http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub A book club and book review blog Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:09:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This wonderful novel by the author of The Mezzanine and Human Smoke is the story of Paul Chowder, poet of little note, who is struggling as he tries to finish the introduction to an anthology of rhymed verse. In Baker's inimitable style, Chowder informs the reader in crystal-clear detail about ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/10/28/the-anthologist/ This brief memoir tells the horrific story of Jean-Dominique Bauby. The editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, in 1995 Bauby was stricken by a kind of stroke at the age of 43, leaving him in a condition medical science refers to as "locked-in syndrome." He is essentially paralyzed, able only to blink ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/10/28/the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly/ This short (63 pages) novel, translated from Spanish, examines a deadly plague that has hit the inhabitants of an unnamed Mexican city. The narrator has converted his beauty salon into a kind of hospice where those afflicted can spend their dying days. The narrator actually tells us little about the ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/10/28/beauty-salon/ This chaotic mess of a novel is the posthumous publication of Roberto Bolano, arguably one of the most important writers in Spanish of our time. His earlier work, including the very readable Savage Detectives, made him a star in his native Mexico and made him a darling in the literary ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/07/21/2666/ This is the second book by Ron Currie, Jr. His first was God is Dead, an interesting "fiction," as he called it, that wondered what would happen if God took human form and was killed. This new novel is superb. It literally follows the life of Junior Thibodeau from his birth ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/07/21/everything-matters/ The second novel by Chris Cleave, Little Bee has a plot that is indeed curious. The title refers to one of the characters, a young black South African girl who befriends a white woman from America. The jacket of the book is intentionally obtuse: "We don't want to tell you ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/06/29/little-bee/ This book, written by Muriel Bayberry and a sensation in France, is difficult to describe. Much of it is told from the point of view of 12-year-old Paloma Josse. The double narrative structure of the novel gives us Renee Michel for the other strand: a nondescript and rather dumpy concierge ... http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2009/06/29/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/ I am currently the Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at The Sage Colleges. I thought I'd use this blog to post random thoughts on my research, teaching, and life. This will also be a place to post thoughts on books. http://blogs.sage.edu/bookclub/2008/07/30/hello-world/