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Wendell Berry is by now surely the “elder statesman” of living responsibly in a sustainable fashion, with strong local allegiances to a place in every sense of the word: the local ecology, culture, community, and people. He seems to be aware of the fact that, if not a statesman, he certainly...
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Why review a 38 year old book? When I spotted this book, I remembered the name Harry Caudill because of his book Night Comes to the Cumberland s . I read that book after reading a chapter about Harry Caudill in a book of essays by Wendell Berry called What Are People For? Now, I've been an admirer...
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A captivating and bittersweet debut novel, The Girl She Used To Be grabs ahold of your senses in its first few pages and doesn't let you go until the very last sentence. With its thrilling tug-of-war storyline and writing style this was the first book in quite some time that I simply could not put...
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I'm often asked to recommend family-friendly movies. This is really not my area of expertise. I don't have kids of my own to consider when choosing a movie and my own childhood experiences are sort of complicated since it didn't seem to occur to my dad that maybe some movies aren't good...
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A Swedish vampire flick, you say? Impossible -- there is no such genre! But here it is in the flesh. And it turns out that it not only netted a whopping 97% rating on rottentomatoes.com but "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves is making an American version to be released in 2010. So is it worth...
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If you LOVED the book, should you see the movie? In this case the answer is YES. British author Monica Ali's beloved novel, "Brick Lane," won all sorts of awards and made numerous top ten lists when it was published in 2003. Critics praised it and readers embraced it. Now this story of...
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In her stunning debut, Morgana Gallaway delivers big with The Nightingale , a story of love and hope amid the horror of war torn Iraq. Simultaneously giving a glimpse into the daily lives of Iraqi citizens and shining a spotlight on the atrocities and inhumanity unleashed by Americans upon the detainees...
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Written in her 89th year, Diana Athill writes in Somewhere Towards the End not so much about getting old, but reflects on her life and, especially as the book goes on, about being old, and the matter-of-fact changes age imposes on one. It gives me great hope to read something written by a 90 year old...
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I'll admit when it comes to literature, I am something of a late bloomer. It took a book group assignment last year for me to finally read Jane Eyre , and of course, I fell in love with it. Recently I followed some friends' recommendations of a book that's reminiscent of that classic novel...
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The essay is one of my favorite literary forms, so imagine my delight in coming across The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present . What a wonderful survey - even though it has a distinctly Anglo-centric bias - with some of the most outstanding writings! The word...