Category Archives: 2009

Pedro and Me, by Judd Winick

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Thistle

This graphic novel is about Pedro Zamora, a gay Cuban immigrant who contracted HIV at age 17, became an public speaker about AIDS, and died at age 22. He and the author, Judd Winick, were roommates on The Real World … Continue reading →

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Crossed Wires, by Rosy Thornton

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Thistle

Mina is a 27-yr-old single mom caring for her 10-yr-old bookworm daughter and her (Mina’s) 17-yr-old juvenile delinquent sister. She works at an auto insurance call center, and hasn’t thought about romance in a long time. Peter is also a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2009, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Thistle

Roy and Silo are two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who became a couple. They bonded the same way a male and female penguin normally do. They made their own nesting area, and they tried to hatch egg-sized … Continue reading →

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A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Thistle

A Room of One’s Own is adapted from a series of lectures Virginia Woolf gave on the topic of “Women and Fiction.” In them, she concludes that in order for a woman to write, she must have money and a … Continue reading →

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Kissing Kate, by Lauren Myracle

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Thistle

Lissa and Kate have been best friends for years, but right before their junior year in high school, the two make out at a party, and suddenly Kate acts as if Lissa no longer exists. Lissa is left confused, both … Continue reading →

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The Trial, by Franz Kafka + graphic novel

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Thistle

Spoilers. Josef K. wakes up on his 30th birthday to find himself arrested. No one will tell him why, and he’s free to go about his own business in the meantime. Over the course of a year, he must defend … Continue reading →

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Songs of Innocence and Experience, by William Blake

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Thistle

Seriously, the apocalypse must be on its way. I just picked up a book of poetry all on my own, without prompting, and read it by choice, rather than by force or coercion. Even more miraculously, I mostly understood what … Continue reading →

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Mind-Rain, by Multiple Authors

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Thistle

Mind-Rain is a collection of essays by various authors about Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. It is literary analysis, though not necessarily academic. Some essays were more academic than others. Westerfeld, who edited the book and wrote introductions, also included two … Continue reading →

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An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Thistle

Colin Singleton, a child prodigy in the mildest sense (meaning he didn’t grow up to be a genius, though still very smart), has a fetish of sorts about girls named Katherine. He’s only ever dated Katherines, and he’s been dumped … Continue reading →

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Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Thistle

I hardly know what to say about this book. I’m not even going to try to describe the plot. A plot description really doesn’t tell you anything. Each moment of this book illuminated nothing but the moment before it, nothing … Continue reading →

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