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In Cold Blood

A Surprisingly Banal Representation of Murder Author: Truman Capote A sleepy Kansas town, where families safely leave their doors unlocked. Where everyone knows everyone else in town. A family – father, mother, two children, slaughtered in the night. Shot, point blank. Tied up. Robbed. All for $40.00. Truman Capote took an infamous, seemingly inexplicable crime and ushered in narrative non-fiction and the popularity of true crime books with In Cold Blood, which has since become a classic. I remember as a child watching the first movie based on this book. I recall marveling at the complexity of emotion, the way that [...]

2023-05-02T18:43:51-07:00May 2nd, 2023|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Frankenstein

Made a Monster? Author: Mary Shelley Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a young, ambitious man who has used science to unravel the deepest, most impenetrable mysteries of life and death. His own ambition has destroyed him, and the walking testament to his hubris has become vengeful and half-crazed from rejection. Thus begins Mary Shelley’s tale of a man who did not respect the bounds of nature and God and now must contend with the horror of his own creation. Most of us hear the word Frankenstein and we think of mad scientists, sizzling lightning bolts, shouts of “it’s alive,” evil laughter echoing [...]

2023-04-22T20:09:05-07:00April 22nd, 2023|Tags: , , , , , |

Dragon Seed

A Story of the Nanjing Massacre Author: Pearl S. Buck Ling Tan is in love with his land, as any 1930s Chinese farmer would be. He has a good life, a good family, a connection with his land and village that is sustaining. True, there are rumors of war, but what does it matter to ordinary people who “rules” the country? Farming and village life will go on as before. Taxes will be sent to a different entity. Nothing will change. Lao Er, Ling Tan’s second son, and his wife, Jade, know better. As members of the younger generation, both are [...]

2023-03-21T18:17:50-07:00March 21st, 2023|Tags: , , , , , , , |
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