NP(R) You Must Read This

[Henry]

You Must Read This 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5432412 

Hilter's Coming; Time for Cocktails and Gossip
July 1, 2008 · Jonathan Raban remembers his first encounter with the aging,
aimless socialites of Evelyn Waugh's Put Out More Flags, a novel of
cocktails, clandestine affairs and the looming threat of World War II.

An Unflinching, 'Street' View of the American Dream
by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
June 16, 2008 · Twenty years ago, author and literature professor Gretchen
Holbrook Gerzina was looking for an undiscovered classic for her
African-American-fiction class. What she found was Ann Petry's The Street,
and she's been teaching it ever since.

'Golden Memories' of Father-Daughter Bonding
by Jen Lancaster
June 15, 2008 · As a teenager, the scariest person in Jen Lancaster's life
wasn't Freddie Krueger or Michael Myers, but Ronald Lancaster, her father —
until the night they laughed themselves silly, courtesy of Jean Shepherd.

Pain, Betrayal and Love in Old Russia
by Ursula Le Guin
June 6, 2008 · Doctor Zhivago offers a day-by-day portrait of the lives of
ordinary Russians through the Revolution of 1917. Nearly 40 years after
reading it for the first time, Ursula Le Guin credits Boris Pasternak's
sweeping epic for making her the novelist she is today.

A Slow, Glorious Trip Down the Mississippi
by Tony Horwitz
May 23, 2008 · Tony Horwitz revels in the meandering adventures and wry
observations of Old Glory, Jonathan Raban's story of floating "like a piece
of human driftwood" through the heart of America.
 
Belly Laughs — and Wampas — in 'Expertise'
by Mary Roach
May 14, 2008 · Real out-loud laughter may be uncommon among adults, says
Mary Roach, but she cracked up upon cracking open John Hodgman's The Areas
of My Expertise. Even Hodgman's list of "Jokes That Have Never Produced
Laughter" proved funny.
 
Taking Comfort in a 'Four-Story' Escape
by Marisa de los Santos
May 5, 2008 · Author Marisa de los Santos recalls the worries of her
childhood, and the escape she found in The Four-Story Mistake, Elizabeth
Enright's tale of four siblings living with their father and a housekeeper
in a big, rambling house in the country.

The Disquieting Resonance of 'The Quiet American'
by Pico Iyer
April 21, 2008 · Can we learn from our past mistakes? Pico Iyer finds modern
meaning in Graham Greene's novel about a naive American who arrives in a
foreign place full of ideas about democracy, and how he can teach an ancient
culture a better, "American" way of doing things.
 
History Made Real in 'April Morning'
by Sally Gunning
April 18, 2008 · On April 19, 1775, a shot rang out on Lexington Green and
the Revolutionary War began. Historical novelist Sally Gunning remembers the
first time she read April Morning, Howard Fast's fictional account of the
day, and the lasting impression the book had on her.
 
Finding a Familiar Loneliness in 'The Yearling'
by Lois Lowry
April 10, 2008 · Lois Lowry was 8 years old when she first encountered the
loneliness and desperate poverty of the Baxter family in Marjorie Kinnan
Rawlings' book, The Yearling.
 
Brutality and Redemption in 'Sacred Hunger'
by Ethan Canin
March 24, 2008 · Sacred Hunger, a brutal portrait of human ruthlessness and
redemption set on an 18th century slaving ship, inspired Ethan Canin to
expand his ambitions as a writer.
 
In 'Dracula,' a Metaphor for Faith and Rebirth
by John Marks
March 21, 2008 · Though his faith has waned over the years, author John
Marks finds a metaphor for his own struggle with belief in the shadowy,
invisible world of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Finding Balance and Pleasure in 'The House of Mirth'
by Mireille Guiliano
March 11, 2008 · As a young woman living in Paris in 1968, author Mireille
Guiliano found friendship — and frustration — in Lily Bart, Edith Wharton's
naïve, self-interested heroine who struggles to make decisions that are in
her self-interest.
 
Darkness and Light in 'The Secret Garden'
by Sloane Crosley
February 20, 2008 · Sloane Crosley loves winter, which may explain her
particular affection for the mysterious, hidden garden in Frances Hodgson
Burnett's dark children's classic.
 
'Brooklyn' Renders an Imperfect World, Perfectly
by Peggy Orenstein
February 18, 2008 · As a girl, Peggy Orenstein may have spent her summers in
Wisconsin, but her heart was often farther east. She recounts her love for
Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and its hard, touching lessons about
the difference between what is right and what is true.

HENRY MU
Information, Media, and Technology Consultant

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog_rss/henrymu/