November 2009
- Me Talk Pretty One Day
- lots of student papers
October 2009
- Silences by Tillie Olsen
- Mindful Loving by Henry Grayson
- Remember Love by Jody Lisberger: Finishing this so I can give her a review at Amazon. I highly recommend this collection of short stories.
- All That Lies Between Us by Maria Mazziotti Gillan
September 2009
- The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
August 2009
- Writing: A Guide for College and Beyond
- Instructor’s Resource Manual for Writing: A Guide for College and Beyond
I think these will take up the rest of August and much of September as I prepare to teach my first college composition class.
July 2009
- In Cold Blood (nonfiction) – for book club
- Italian Women in Black Dresses (poetry) – in great anticipation of meeting the poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan, cultural activist and poet, in August.
Previously read books that I recommend
- Openwork by Adria Bernardi
- Above the Thunder by Renee Manfredi
- Belongings: Poems by Sandra M. Gilbert
- The Dream Book: an Anthology of Writings by Italian American Women by Helen Barolini
- Clay’s Quilt by Silas House
A reading story:
I walked into a library. It was a small library. It’s not a remarkable thing to walk into a library. People walk into libraries all the time. People check out books all the time. I wanted to recheck a book one more time but had gone beyond the allotted number of times I could check it out. I was left empty handed with no idea of what to read next.
Who knows why I choose to read certain books. The story sounds compelling? The author’s name sounds interesting? I’ve had the book on my “to read” list for many years? This one time, in this one library, with no idea of what to read, I pulled a book out because I liked the color of it’s spine.
The book? Tina DeRosa’s not so long novel Paper Fish. That day, when I walked into that library with one book, expecting to finish reading that one book, I never expected to walk out of the library with a window, a window into the words of women who knew a little about what life was like growing up Italian in America, growing up like I grew up. These weren’t women I was introduced to in American English classes. These weren’t women I’d ever heard of, though I grew up Italian in America. Paper Fish opened me up to possibilities and to the many Italian-American literary voices I’ve come to know since chancing on that little green spine.
I don’t only read books by Italian-American women, but I do read a fair number and do enjoy studying the ethnic voice from the perspective of the Italian-American female writer. I just wanted to share this with anyone who happens upon this little site and let you know that I’ll be listing some of these women right here in this space.
