“Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” – Muriel Barbery channels Leo Tolstoy (and Bobby McFerrin) in this rich little literary treatise on time.
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DIY MFA Reading List: “Jesus’ Son” by Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson’s starry-eyed protagonist fumbles towards ecstasy, in this lyrical collection of linked short stories about addiction, loss, and recovery.
Continue readingDIY MFA Reading List: “Shadow Country” by Peter Matthiessen
Father, Son … and Unholy Ghost: Peter Matthiessen’s “Shadow Country” presents an America struggling to recover from the hangover of the Civil War, as an entire community bears witness to the killing of “bloody” Mister E. J. Watson.
Continue readingDIY MFA Reading List: “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon
Holy Shazaam Batman! Michael Chabon transmogrifies the business behind the comic book industry into an allegory on escaping from the shackles of race, sex, and capitalism in “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” … and the result is out of this world.
Continue readingDIY MFA Reading List: “Best American Short Stories 2005” edited by Michael Chabon
Sometimes it takes science fiction or fantasy to hammer home the most poignant observations about the American Condition.
Continue readingDIY MFA Reading List: “Oryx & Crake” by Margaret Atwood
Will the world end in fire, or in ice? Or in a hemorrhagic virus leaving behind a few crazed survivors … and a race of genetically engineered, multi-colored midgets? Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx & Crake” takes us back to the future.
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