/tags/essays/ Recent content in essays on Perlkönig Hugo -- gohugo.io Copyright © 2006-{year} Aaron Dalton. All Rights Reserved. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/best-american-essays-2003-edited-by-robert-atwan-and-anne-fadiman/ Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/best-american-essays-2003-edited-by-robert-atwan-and-anne-fadiman/ Rating: 5/5 Robert Atwan and Anne Fadiman (eds.), The Best American Essays 2003 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003). What I am loving most about these essay collections is the diversity. To use a Gumpism, “it’s like a box of chocolates.” There were a handful that I ended up skimming (toffee or peanut butter), and one that just made me sick (orange or cherry), but most were delicious (caramel or mint). They’re also bite sized, so I generally can read one or two on the bus and can stop if one was particularly poignant or thought provoking. /posts/rereadings-edited-by-anne-fadiman/ Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/rereadings-edited-by-anne-fadiman/ Rating: 5/5 Anne Fadiman (ed.), Rereadings (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005). Well I’ve decided that Anne Fadiman is pretty awesome :) I’ve also decided that the “essay” as a genre is pretty awesome too. I don’t know why I’ve had so little exposure to it so far in my life, but there it is. I’m glad I found it now, and I plan on seeking out more. While on my lunch break the other day (reading, of course) a coworker walked by and commented on how I was taking a break from reading to read. /posts/at-large-and-at-small-by-anne-fadiman/ Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/at-large-and-at-small-by-anne-fadiman/ Rating: 5/5 Anne Fadiman, At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays by Anne Fadiman (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007). Another delightful read. While not as intentionally hilarious as Ex Libris , it certainly has it’s guffaw-inducing moments. She’s a tremendous writer and succeeds well at creating vivid imagery. This book is her contribution to the genre of the “familiar essay,” a genre that is intended as an intimate conversation between the author and a single reader. /posts/ex-libris-by-anne-fadiman/ Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/ex-libris-by-anne-fadiman/ Rating: 5/5 Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998). I just finished reading the most wonderful book! It came up in one of the editing mailing lists I subscribe to. (I wish I could remember who recommended it!) It’s a series of essays by Anne Fadiman (someone I had never heard of before) that talks about her and her family’s obsession with words, books, and reading. /posts/metamagical-themas-by-douglas-hofstadter/ Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/metamagical-themas-by-douglas-hofstadter/ Rating: 4/5 Douglas R. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern (New York: Basic Books, 1986). This book (revised again in 1996) is a collection of the columns Douglas Hofstadter wrote for Scientific American in 1981–83. The columns are grouped by topic and each is followed by a lengthy postscript that expands on the original column. He explores topics from self-referentiality to Rubic’s Cubes, from Lisp atoms to the nature of cognition. /posts/imagination-in-place-by-wendell-berry/ Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/imagination-in-place-by-wendell-berry/ Rating: 5/5 Wendell Berry, Imagination in Place (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press, 2010). I have read a fair bit of Wendell Berry lately, and I will soon be looking more closely at his fiction. This collection of essays is more autobiographical and is certainly more literary. The overall focus is on influence—how we are influenced by our place and by who we know and what we read. He suggests (p. 42): /posts/what-matters-by-wendell-berry/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/what-matters-by-wendell-berry/ Rating: 5/5 Wendell Berry, What Matters? Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010). I can’t say enough how much I enjoy Wendell Berry’s writing. At a technical level, his writing is beautiful. He uses plain language , and his arguments are clearly and logically laid out. At a content level, he really speaks to me. I have known for a long time that the world has truly gone insane, but Berry chapters and verses it in clear, powerful language. /posts/home-economics-by-wendell-berry/ Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/home-economics-by-wendell-berry/ Rating: 5/5 Wendell Berry, Home Economics: Fourteen Essays by Wendell Berry (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1987). One thing I love about editing is the opportunity to read so many different types of texts I would never normally pick up. Sometimes, even if the book I’m editing is not particularly interesting, I almost always find at least one book or author cited that catches my attention. The Solnit book I previously posted about and this collection both came from my current project.