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Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Rhoda Janzen's nonfiction book, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, is a bittersweet "memoir of going home". After being left by her bipolar and verbally abusive husband for a man on gay.com Rhoda is injured after a serious car accident. She takes this opportunity to return home to her Mennonite roots. This book offers honest insight into the ambivalence Rhoda carries regarding her roots. Many people confuse Mennonite's with the Amish (which was actually a rebellious offshoot from the Mennonites). For more information on the Mennonites you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite.
Rhoda approaches the transitions in her life with humor - revisiting hilarious childhood memories and family stories along the way. She provides an informative and witty appendix, which includes a "Mennonite History Primer" and traditional recipes for kartoffelsalat, persimmon cookies, platz, cotletten, and borscht (as told by her mother).


Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Good Read: Spooky Little Girl

Laurie Notaro has been one of my favorite authors for a long time. I recently read her new book, Spooky Little Girl, as a treat for myself upon finishing my 2nd year of graduate school. In this quirky and hilarious book the main character, Lucy, is victim of an untimely death. She finds herself in Notaro's version of the afterlife - "ghost school". Here she learns the tricks of the spooking trade. Upon "graduation" Lucy is sent out on her "mission". This left me wondering - if you were to die today, who would you haunt? What did you leave unfinished? Who would you help?