Eagerly Anticipated: New Books 2015

2014 was a good year for books. 2015 could be even better. Here are a few books I’m looking forward to. Confessions of a Carnivore by Diane Lefer This writer/activist is not yet a household name, but she will be. Author of the superb California Transit: Stories, which won the Mary Mccarthy Prize in Short…

National Readathon Day

Hooray for January 24th – National Readathon Day! It’s a U.S. celebration of literacy. So what are YOU reading?  

Waiting for Godot (Rio Grande Theater, Las Cruces)

Beckett’s masterpiece was staged this weekend at the Rio Grande Theater, Las Cruces. It starred Mark Medoff, the Academy Award winning author of “Children of a Lesser God” as Vladimir, and Richard Rundell as Estragon, and was directed by Jessica Medoff Bunchman, Mark Medoff’s daughter. From the set, we immediately see this isn’t a traditional…

Great Reads 2014

Fiction: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, The King and Queen of Comezon by Denise Chavez, All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride Non-fiction: Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt…

Charlie Hebdo

Condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims of this barbarous attack on freedom of expression. All of those involved in publishing are in mourning. On a side note, well done to the Heinemann imprint of Cornerstone, which will go ahead with the UK publication of Michel Houellebecq’s novel Submission (published in France…

Mailbox Chronicles no. 5: Pedagogy of Commitment by Paulo Freire

I confess to letting out a groan when a preview copy of Pedagogy of Commitment (Paradigm Publishers, 2014) landed in the mailbox. It’s yet another volume based on the teachings of Paulo Freire, the legendary Brazilian educator. His great opus, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, has spawned a series: Pedagogy of Indignation, Pedagogy of Hope, Pedagogy…

Happy New Year …

… to you all. May 2015 be filled with reading, writing and all good things! JJ

House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle

This mesmerizing novel centers on a Choctaw (Native American) tribal community at the close of the 19th century. The community faces two monsters: one is a panther lurking in the woods; the other is Marshal Hardwicke, a murderous, bullying alcoholic. The tale hinges on a moment of motiveless violence – the marshal, drunk and staggering…