Skip to Content

Staff Picks Reviewer: Janet

Deaf Sentence by David Lodge []

book-jacket

view/request

British novel about a hearing impaired retired professor of linguistics. Well written, interestingly plotted, with a sort BBC/Masterpiece Theater feel to it. It is very much a character driven story that explores the former professor’s challenges with retirement, his increasing deafness, and his family concerns. The professor explores various literature about and by the deaf and attends lip reading classes where he learns all sorts of interesting trivia. The story is spiced up by his involvement with a possibly psychotic American grad student writing her doctoral thesis on the linguistics of suicide notes.

Tagged: , ,

All a Novelist Needs: Colm Tóibín on Henry James by Colm Tóibín []

book-jacket

view/request

All a Novelist Needs is beautifully written with fascinating insights into Henry James and his creative process. Anyone who likes Tóibín or James will enjoy this book.

Tagged: ,

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym []

book-jacket

view/request

Excellent Women is one of Barbara Pym’s best — a funny, engaging, and insightful story of post WWII English life. Like Jane Austen, Pym examines the small, seemingly mundane lives of ordinary people in an extraordinary manner.

Tagged: