LeVar Burton Reads

If any of you are like me and grew up with the amazing and unparalleled Reading Rainbow video series, you'll thouroughly enjoy this podcast, where LeVar Burton (the host of Reading Rainbow) reads short fiction for adults. Enjoy!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/levar-burton-reads/id1244649384?mt=2

A Rose for Emily

I came across a popular Faulkner story "A Rose for Emily." Apparently, it's set in the same town as "As I Lay Dying" and many other Faulkner novels and stories. I find it fascinating that Faulkner chose to locate almost all of his stories in the same fictional place. The themes of decay and loneliness in the story were quite reminiscent of "As I Lay Dying," so it was an enjoyable read after not enjoying that novel as much in English class. I found the short story through this podcast called "Shittown," produced by the same people who made "Serial." It's about a man named John B. McLemore, and him being fed-up with the small town where he lives in Alabama. He's a fascinating character, and he shares a lot of qualities with Emily from the Faulkner story with added layers of complexity and mystery. I suggest reading the short story and listening to the podcast. They're both great. There's also a song based on the short story that I enjoyed a lot. Links to all three below!

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html

"A Rose for Emily" by the Zombies (song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF55LNrHBSw

"Shittown" (Podcast): https://stownpodcast.org/

Bad Slacking book club

here is the link to The Wasteland, in case anyone feels like being a BAD SLACKER!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47311

Also, here is the link to Flannery O'Connor's The Barber, which furnishes a possible explanation for our current political climate.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/the-barber-a-story-flannery-oconnor-never-published/280731/

Initial thoughts on T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" (a cry for help)

My mom and sister wanted to go shoe/book/grocery shopping the other day, so while they store-hopped, I camped out in Barnes&Noble for a couple hours. The poetry section of this particular branch is in the far back corner of the second floor (it took me a while to find– I had to ask for help, oops). Admittedly, I just picked up this one T.S. Eliot book because I was in a rush to sit down and quickly recognized the name because of Thurtle's class. "The Waste Land" ended up being one of the most dense things I've read in a while, and now I'm kinda wishing we did it in lit this year because I feel like I need a few class periods of discussion or something to understand it fully. There are so many allusions. At a few points I was so absorbed in reading all of Eliot's footnotes that I forgot what the poem itself was saying in the first place. I ended up liking Part V ('What the Thunder Said') quite a bit and was originally going to buy the book so I could mark it up and stuff, but I actually ended up copying it into my notebook because I currently have no more book money left. Someone please talk with me about this poem. It took me forever to do a first read, and I'm not really sure I understand it that much but I think I'd like to.

2015 Slacker Book Club

I'm re-reading Dan Ariely's Predictibly Irrational.  I also just finished David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.  EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD.

Young Adult Fantasy Fiction

Slacker Book Club, LLC is more than just a Colglazier fan-fiction site!  Here are some recommendations for young adult fantasy fiction:

Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones
Sabriel and its assorted sequels, Garth Nix
The Wee Free Men and its assorted sequels, Terry Pratchett