Tag: Boston

Culture Corner

Boston Book Festival, Part I: The Panels

Geoff W

This past weekend was the third annual Boston Book Festival and I am proud to say I’ve attended all three. Each year there have been a few hiccups, but the festival gets bigger and (for the most part) better each year. I apologize ahead of time as this is a VERY long post. Suffice to say I enjoyed the festival and am looking forward to next year’s event. Stay tuned as later this week I will post about the AWESOME workshop I attended and the books I (shouldn’t have) bought and the keynote.

One of the hardest things to do is decide which panels/discussions I want to attend. With a schedule like this:

it’s no wonder it’s hard to decide. (You can see a detailed version with links here.) Although I originally planned to attend four panels, a workshop and the keynote; and there were plenty other workshops I would love to have attended, I only attended three panels, a workshop and the keynote. Below are my thoughts/review of the panels.
Click here to read about the panels I attended…

Books

Book 69: The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri

Geoff W

A friend in undergrad recommended I read this novel and I’m sad it took me this long to read it. The Namesake is one of the most beautifully and eloquently written novels I have read this year, if not ever.

There is something so simple and yet strikingly intricate in Lahiri’s prose. I can only compare her to the lyrical like prose I’ve read from many Irish authors. I found myself repeating sentences in my head because of their artful construction. The foreign names, foods, and customs interwoven with the familiar places and customs created a story I couldn’t put down. I’ve compared Jhumpa Lahiri to Jane Austen, in the ordinariness of what she writes and her style, and I stand by this, but it is the lives and deaths—the full picture, rather than the snapshot—at which Lahiri excels.

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

October 2011 Update

Geoff W

When I started these monthly updates a few months ago I told myself I would try to get them posted by the end of the first full week in a month. That clearly isn’t going to be the case. I’ve truly struggled this past month reading wise. I’ve spent almost 20 days reading the same novel/memoir and I’ve spent a lot of time playing Minecraft (check it out if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

I’m not sure if Waiting for Snow in Havana just wasn’t what I wanted to read now, or if Eire said something to really irk me while reading the novel, but it has been a struggle to finish. I did finish it and will have the review up tomorrow. I’m glad to report The Namesake is such a beautifully written and simple book that I’m flying through it and will probably have a review for next week, as well as my annual review of the Boston Book Festival!

I’m very excited for the Festival this weekend – I just ordered the original book festival poster from 2009. I wanted one and a bag from the first year but couldn’t afford it as I was still a VISTA. I was able to get a poster, but the bags sold out this time last year. I’ve already sorted out the workshops I’m going to and am only letting myself take $40 to spend on books (aka one grab bag if the same vendor is there this year, and a random book to get signed if I’m inspired by a panel). It’s dangerous that it falls on payday weekend.

And as no blog post is complete without pictures, check out the library and light house I’ve built in Minecraft. (It’s the local public library – as no town is complete without one!) I’m working on a University sized library on a hidden island elsewhere in my world and I’ll post pictures of it when it’s completed!

Culture Corner, Updates

Oh Hey, Big City Part 2…

Geoff W

As I mentioned on Tuesday, Marge Piercy would be reading at the Brookline Booksmith last night. Well after an hour and a half journey (no wonder I got off the Green Line as soon as I could), I managed to get to the reading on time.

Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy - SignedMs. Piercy read between 12 and 15 poems and they were all amazing, but perhaps it was her personality which shone through most. She started the whole reading off by putting a cover on the microphone and saying “practice safe-sex with microphones.” Not only was it hilarious, but it was genuinely adorable. This set the mood for her personality and her poetry. She was very quirky and it just added to her charm and presence. Half way through the reading she decided she was hot so paused and took her shoes off – it just made me smile. I’m not sure which poem was my favorite and if I had to choose one I’d probably say Deadlock Wedlock because of where my academic interests lie, but I really enjoyed, Football for Dummies, Collectors, One Reason I Like Opera, and Deadlock Wedlock.

The most interesting aspect, aside from the reading, was the crowd. I was the only male under 40 and was only one of maybe five. I was not in the least bit surprised there were that few (actually felt like there were a lot) because her main draw is feminists and women, even though her works cover much more. The only thing I found strange about the crowd was their responses to the poems. I’m not sure why it was, but they all sort of moaned/grunted at the end of the poems. I’m sure it was showing appreciation for the reading as Ms. Piercy asked all applause to be held after the first poem. It just seemed odd at the time.

I’m glad I went and I got a book signed for myself (seen above) and one signed for a friend in the UK. And I also met someone else who has the R2D2 Droid phone – kind of awesome!

Culture Corner

Oh Hey, Big City…

Geoff W

This is why I love living in Boston, a ‘big city.’

Yesterday I was desperately searching for five copies of Christopher Klein’s Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands for an event we’re having next month when I found out Emma Donoghue, author of Room, was in town doing a reading last night and question and answer session at Harvard Bookstore.

Title page of "Room" signed by Emma Donoghue Needless to say I was very excited. I have been patiently waiting for Room to come out in paperback for over a year and while my step-mom was visiting this past week she bought me a copy of it. If you haven’t heard of Room, it’s told from the perspective of five-year-old Jack, who is the son of a kidnap victim whose entire universe is one room. The book has gained increasing attention over the past year and won the Irish Book Award and appeared on the shortlist for the Man-Booker prize. Ms. Donoghue was brilliant, she was hilarious and serious and well spoken and had researched all aspects of the book and it made me very excited to actually get the chance to sit down and read the book.

But the icing on the cake of living in a big city, is that I found out Marge Piercy will be in town tomorrow night reading from a new book of poetry (The Hunger Moon: New and Selected Poems) at the Brookline Booksmith and needless to say I am very excited and will be going to get my copy of Woman on the Edge of Time autographed as well as a copy for a good friend in the UK. I wrote a paper on Woman on the Edge of Time that caused a bit of hoopla in my department and needless to say it will be interesting to see what she has to say.

In case you were wondering, I did find five copies of Klein’s book at the AWESOME Brookline Booksmith.