Dragons and Economics

National Book Awards - 2011

Fiction: Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the bones
A widower and his four children living in rural Mississippi face Hurricane Katrina.

Nonfiction: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
How the salvage and dissemination of Lucretius’ philosophical epic, “On the nature of things,” sparked the Renaissance.

Young People’s Literature : Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again
The story of a young Vietnamese refugee as she struggles to adjust to life in America.

Poetry: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split
Poetry about the “emblematic figures and events in African American life. . . from Rosa Parks to Condoleezze Rice to a woman on a rooftop during Hurricane Katrina. . . . [Her poems] ask us to be mindful of what we fraction, fragment, cut off, dice, dishonor, or throw away. . .” (Amazon.com ; 11/17/11)

Lifetime Achievement Award:
Poet John Ashbery, 84, received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community:
Mitchell Kaplan, a bookstore owner in Florida and a driving force behind the East Coast's largest literary festival, the Miami Book Fair International.

(from http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-book-awards-20111117,0,292135.story)

For the love of . . .

Happy Thanksgiving

GRATEFULNESSE
~ George Herbert (1593- 1633)

Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art.

He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And says, If he in this be crossed,
All thou hast given him heretofore
Is lost.

But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
To save.

Perpetual knockings at thy door,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
And comes.

This not withstanding, thou wenst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay thou hast made a sigh and groan
Thy joys.

Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, than groans can make;
But that these country-airs thy love
Did take.

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankful heart obtain
Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

Journal Highlights

In the newest issue of The Atlantic
"The Glory of Oprah"

"The ally from hell." America's Pakistan problem

"The Greatest Gossip." An article about John Updike.

"The Rockford Style." Why James Garner is star.

And in Forbes

"The world's 70 most powerful people"

Happy Veteran's Day

"This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
Make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner.
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

[Act IV, scene 3, Henry V /Shakespeare]

Thursday Book Trailers

“Claire scrambled to pick up her cell phone. . . . [Then] she noticed something sticky on her hand. Blood. . . . She could see now that she had tripped over a person. . . She reached up to the neck to feel for a pulse. Where the neck was supposed to be, there was a space. [The wound] went on and on, until Claire realized that the head was barely attached at all, and that the puddle she was kneeling in was almost certainly not rainwater.(from p. 2-3)
Book Trailer
Book Trailer

“Uncle Spade always called it “boxing,” but what I did was fight. . . . I had gloves…, but we made more money without them. Crowds like a real knockdown show with blood and bruises.” (from the book jacket)
(I could not find a trailer, but this is a book that should be read! Read it and record a trailer.)

“. . . I was the one in a gunfight. . . . Scared isn’t the right word for it. . . [I knocked on a stranger’s door.] I pressed my vest to where my lower jaw used to be—trying to control the bleeding and making my uniform visible so they would know I was a cop. Somehow, I scrawled the words ‘not an accident’ and ‘Polly and the kids—not safe.’ (from p. 20-23)

Cylin tells her story.
Book trailer

“ ‘That’s the exit. . . .’ shouted Kieran. . . . With new energy we splashed up the tunnel. We were exhausted and not thinking straight. We were sloppy. . . . It started with a slight splash up ahead. It took me a second to realize that the light from Jake’s headlamp had disappeared."

‘Jake!’ I screamed. Kieran spun around to face me, then back toward where Jake had been a second ago. We both shouted his name.
But he was gone.” (p. 83)
Book trailer

“Just when Josh thought the worst was
over. . . . He was even more certain now that his father's death was no accident - and he's starting to wonder if he can really trust his closest allies. When he learns of a secret buried within the Ix Codex, he must journey back to the secret Mexican city of Ek Naab. Shocking news awaits him about the mysterious Bracelet of Itzamna. Did Josh's dad really take it? And where is it now? Josh has no idea what's waiting for him. . . .” (http://www.joshuafiles.co.uk/ice_shock; 10/21/2011)
Book trailer

Madison MacDonald’s status updates:
Nate and I have been together for two months, and it’s wonderful. Life is good!
Well, except for the fact that I still might be failing history.
And I no longer have a BFF.
And the assistant headmaster seems to have a vendetta against me.
And it appears that I’m being blackmailed.
Mad_mac is trying not to panic! (from the cover)

Interview with author.

November Book Highlights