[249] A Visitation of Spirits – Randall Kenan

It was then that he would realize that he was different and vulnerable and that the simple joy of being in love and expressing it with straightforward passion was denied him, and he would retreat into an indigo funk. [153]
Horace Cross is smart and nerdy; but the 16-year-old is tired of his suffocating life. He [...]

[248] Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin

“I was in terrible confusion. Sometimes I thought, but this is your life. Stop fighting it. Stop fighting. Or I thought, but I am happy. And he loves me. Sometimes, when he was not near me, I thought, I will never let him touch me again. Then, when he touched me, I thought, it doesn’t [...]

[247] The World of Normal Boys – K.M. Soehnlein

“But mostly he wants to get away from this room; more than that, he wants to slip into the swarming darkness at the back of his skull and merge as a different boy–unobtrusive, disinterested, normal. Someone not worth an argument.” [166]
The World of Normal Boys is a coming of age novel even though Robin MacKenzie [...]

Posterity: What Makes a Classic?

Last week’s Booking Through Thursday question concerned the posterity issue in literature. It asked whether any of the modern authors can measure up to the caliber of Dickens, Austen, and Bronte. While I’m not sure what qualities the host thinks give these authors their status but I must say, from my humble and limited experience [...]

[246] Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

“The human soul enjoys these rare, classic periods, but, apart from them, we are seldom single or unique; we keep company in this world with a hoard of abstractions and reflections and counterfeits of ourselves—the sensual man, the economic man, the man of reason, the beast . . . indistinguishable from ourselves to the outward [...]

[245] The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

“Oh…well, about life being a game and all. And how you should play it according to the rules . . . If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot shots, then [...]

“Old-School” Favorites

Tomorrow I have my first teaching job (yes, I’m sharing my non-book bloggy news!) and it’s inspired today’s Musing Monday.
What books did you read while in school? Were there any that you particular liked, or even hated? Did any become lifelong favourites?
This question will open up a wide discussion because at least for me, high [...]

[244] The Year of Ice – Brian Malloy

But if Randy’s death taught me anything, it’s that life is short. I know it’s nuts, it’s impulsive, I haven’t thought it through at all. But sometimes, Kevin, you just have to say ‘what the heck?’ and take a chance. [144]
The Year of Ice follows a year in the life of Kevin Doyle, who turns [...]

[243] Howards End – E.M. Forster

Life’s very difficult and full of surprises. At all events, I’ve got as far as that. To be humble and kind, to go straight ahead, to love people rather than pity them, to remember the submerged—well, one can’t do all these things at once, worse luck, because they’re so contradictory. It’s then proportion comes in [...]

Airport Reading

At the Los Angeles airport, people choose to munch away at restaurants, nap, on a row of seats, hog the electrical jacks to recharge all their gadgets or play video game to kill time until the boarding call. I find a comfortable seat within eye-sight to monitor that might announce gate change and coop up [...]