Green Hell — Ryan Heshka

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Green Hell, 2018 by Ryan Heskha (b. 1970)

Claudia Rankine reading from Citizen

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Selections from One-Star Amazon Reviews of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

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[Editorial note: The following citations come from one-star Amazon reviews of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. Reading through these “reviews” has made me want to revisit Morrison’s debut, which I haven’t read in a dozen years (tellingly, many if not most of the reviewers fail to realize that the novel was published in 1970, not in 2000 when it was featured in Oprah Winfrey’s book club. I’ve preserved the reviewers’ own styles of punctuation and spelling. More one-star Amazon reviews.]

TRASH

f-words

b-words

Its sooooooo dirty!

unrelentingly grim

filled with sexuality

Call me a simpleton, but

politically correct posture

I felt dirty after reading it

over-the-top racial themes

Just another…(never mind)

horrible with no hope at all

full of cruel unlikable character

decorate her work with profanity

Did OPRAH actually read this drivel?

wallowing in the garbage of humanity

the gross aspects of sex and femine hygene

Granted I am a guy, a white guy at that, but

This author must be a good friend of Oprah’s

I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and Uncle Toms Cabin.

I like to read something that doesn’t pollute my mind

Sadly Toni Morrison has kept to her very low standards

write a letter to the school board to have them remove it

Evreythig revolved over sex and a lot of other horrible things

I read the book in one day hoping that it would eventually get better.

Good book packed intelligibly in a huge box with 2 32oz bottles of shampoo.

Half the time I didn’t even know what character they were writing about until I was well into the chapter.

my very well read and well travelled daughter said she was shocked by these stories

The author was very uneducated in her writing. She did not make since

I am an educated caucasian woman with a masters degree

we all live in the gutter and mix with the dregs of society

It just made me feel guilty just cos I’d been born white

I live in a town that has many African Americans

the appalling Common Core Curriculum

Common Core exemplar reading list

As highly educated as we both are,

random trashing of Dostoevsky

sexually explicit perversion

a very disturbing feeling

Common Core reading list

common core curriculum

common core standards

new CCSS(common core)

Common Core program

at times perverse

nothing but hurt

Oprah’s choices

“social justice.”

not literature

garbage

Phooey!

porn

VILE

 

Tipping Point — David Lyle

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Tipping Point, 2020 by David Lyle (b. 1971)

45 still frames from Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

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From Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, 1984. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Cinematography by Koji Shiragami, Yukitomo Shudo, Yasuhiro Shimizu. and Mamoru Sugiura. Via Screenmusings.

Balls O’Clock — Hilary Harkness 

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Balls O’Clock, 2015 by Hilary Harkness (b. 1971)

Read “The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth,” a short story by Charles Portis

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“The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth”

by

Charles Portis

The Editors are spiking most of my copy now, unread. One has described it as “hopeless crap.” My master’s degree means nothing to this pack of half-wits at the Blade. My job is hanging by a thread. But Frankie, an assistant city editor, is not such a bad boss and it was she who, out of the blue, gave me this choice assignment. I was startled. A last chance to make good?

Frankie said, “Get some bright quotes for a change, okay? Or make some up. Not so much of your dreary exposition. Not so many clauses. Get to the point at once. And keep it short for a change, okay? Now, buzz on out to the new Pecking Center on Warehouse Road, near the Loopdale Cutoff. Scoot. Take the brown Gremlin. But check the water in the radiator!” Continue reading “Read “The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth,” a short story by Charles Portis” →

The Charge — André Devambez

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The Charge, 1902 by André Devambez (1867–1944)

“The Girl’s Dream” — Álvaro Mutis

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From The Mansion; English translation by Beatriz Haugner.

Tanaquil — Domenico Beccafumi

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Tanaquil, 1525 by Domenico Beccafumi (1484-1551)

“No interviews!” the pirate cried | Donald Barthelme

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From Donald Barthelme’s children’s book The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine; or The Hithering Thithering Djinn.

Woman Reading — Susan Macdowell Eakins

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Woman Reading, 1884 by Susan Macdowell Eakins (

Delany/Spark/Etc. (Books acquired, 24-27 June 2020)

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Purged some shelves and brought a box of old books to my favorite spot earlier this week. I was looking for books by William Melvin Kelley and Clarence Major but no luck. I picked up yet another Muriel Spark title (I am still hungry for this flavor), and also picked up Samuel Delany’s Nova. I failed Delany’s cult novel Dhalgren, but maybe this earlier novel will work for me. Or I will work for it. Or…you know. Also: Got a bunch of art books today from a neighbor leaving the country. Good for her. (That’s my boy Coyote in the upper left.)

Travelers — Katia Lifshin

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Travelers by Katia Lifshin

Homage to Balthus and Freud — Sasha Gordon 

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Homage to Balthus and Freud, 2017 by Sasha Gordon (b. 1998)

Top Down — Jerrell Gibbs

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Top Down, 2019 by Jerrell Gibbs (b. 1985)

Virtual Reality — Laurie Lipton

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Virtual Reality, 2015 by Laurie Lipton (b. 1960)