Category Archives: Audience

Christmas Holiday, by William Somerset Maugham

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Thistle

Charley Mason, part of a fairly well-to-do family in England, goes to Paris for his Christmas holidays to visit an old friend and have a bit of fun. Everything changes, though, when Charley’s friend (Simon, now very changed) introduces him … Continue reading →

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Returning to Haifa, by Ghassan Kanafani

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Thistle

My sister recommended three novellas by Ghassan Kanafani, and so I read all three. This was the last of them. In this story, Said and his wife Safiyya are going back to their home town Haifa twenty years after they … Continue reading →

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The Rock and the River, by Kekla Magoon

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Thistle

The Rock and the River is set in the late sixties during the Civil Rights Movement. Sam is a thirteen year old boy caught between two paths of the Movement. His father is one of the leaders in the peaceful … Continue reading →

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Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (audio)

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Thistle

I first read Lolita about a decade ago. It was my first experience was Vladimir Nabokov, and what made me fall in love with him. I decided to revisit this novel on audio, a second read. Here, I’m going to … Continue reading →

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Men in the Sun, by Ghassan Kanafani

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Thistle

My sister recommended three novellas by Ghassan Kanafani, and so I read all three. Men in the Sun was the second I read. This is the story of three desperate men from Palestine trying to make their way to Kuwait … Continue reading →

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All That’s Left To You, by Ghassan Kanafani

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Thistle

My sister recommended three novellas by Ghassan Kanafani, and so I read all three. This was my sister’s favorite of the three, so I read it first. It follows several different stories, offset by type (bold, italics, normal) to differentiate … Continue reading →

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Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, by Brian Sibley

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Thistle

I have never been as big a fan of the Harry Potter movies as I am of the books, but I do enjoy the movies. I own the first six, and there are some I like better than others. When … Continue reading →

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Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Thistle

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine.” So goes the first line of Austen’s semi-satire of the old Gothic novel tradition. We follow Catherine as she goes … Continue reading →

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If Not, Winter, by Sappho

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Thistle

If Not, Winter is a collection of all the fragments of poetry that remain from Sappho’s great body of work. Sappho was a singer and songwriter on the island of Lesbos, a woman who explored love with both men and … Continue reading →

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A Wish After Midnight, by Zetta Elliott

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Thistle

Brooklyn, 2001. Fifteen year old Genna lives in the slums and dreams of getting out of her neighborhood. She wants to go to college and become a psychiatrist. Nearly every day, she goes to a local garden and wishes in … Continue reading →

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