Category Archives: reviews

Pirate Films

It has been too cold to do much except watch movies lately. We are always looking for good Scandinavian films, so I was excited when Netflix turned up a few, including A Hijacking, (Kapringen), a Danish film about Somali pirates. In the fall … Continue reading

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From Scratch

One of the things I love about Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is that, even though her project is big, it inspired me to become a vegetable gardener. Somehow she breaks it down and makes it seem like an ordinary activity. Although … Continue reading

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Frances Ha

I’m late to discussion of this movie, which is currently streaming on Netflix. I highly recommend it– and it’s sweet! And I just saw so many connections in it, which I loved, that I had to do a little blog … Continue reading

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The Winner

OK, I will admit to watching a reality show– Project Runway. I started watching after it moved to Lifetime and have seen five or six seasons. What I really liked at first was to watch people sewing! I love the very idea … Continue reading

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National Novel Writing Month

I wish Jon Hassler were still alive. That’s all I can think of these past few days as I’ve been rereading North of Hope, my favorite of his novels. Hassler lived in Minnesota his whole life, and taught at Saint … Continue reading

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Life in African Literature

The bulk of my summer reading was devoted to two novels set in Africa. The first, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was the better book and wonderfully told. The second, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, … Continue reading

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My Two Husbands

I finished reading Second Nature by Michael Pollan last night and I will miss it. In fact, I’ll probably keep it by my bed for late-night reading in the winter. It’s a tour de force of thinking about Americans and … Continue reading

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Terrence Malick Speaks of Love

On Saturday, in part to clear our heads after the media extravaganza that was the Boston Bomber Manhunt Week, we went to the Twin Cities to see Terrence Malick’s new film, To the Wonder. It was lovely to hear so … Continue reading

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An Actual/Virtual Dystopia

Something happened on Sunday that shook me up, as it seemed to mark a change or shift in the way the world operates that is deeply unsettling. A number of people were posting on Facebook about the suicide of Canadian … Continue reading

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We Sinners, a review

I just finished reading Hannah Pylväinen’s 2012 debut novel We Sinners. Of course, it caught my attention by the title alone, and the description that it was about a large family (9 children) in a Christian sect. The book is … Continue reading

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