Minotaur's Spotlight

07/19/2015

Is/Was Atticus Finch a fraud? The recent release of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman has sparked a controversy of opinions. Here are a few links offering a variety of opinions. Tell us your thoughts.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/16/go-set-watchman-plot-twists

http://thefederalist.com/2015/07/14/of-course-atticus-finch-was-a-racist-and-thats-okay/

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/eric-schnurer/2015/07/16/atticus-finchs-racist-turn-in-go-set-a-watchman-has-a-silver-lining

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/his-name-was-atticus/398600/

http://www.ibtimes.com/racist-atticus-finch-go-set-watchman-scholars-predict-shift-how-harper-lees-classic-2011922

http://www.livescience.com/51599-atticus-finch-racism.html

06/14/2015

"Girlhood is complicated; it isn’t linear, it isn’t grounded in any reality, and when it says one thing, it is trying to open your eyes to another."

Though the Oscar-nominated Boyhood began its filming in 2002, the story of girlhood came to fruition an entire year earlier in Catherine Pierce’s 2013 poetry collection, The Girls of Peculiar. Girlhood is complicated; it isn’t linear, it isn’t grounded in any reality, and when it says one thing, it…

06/13/2015

"'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier' and Clay by Michael Chabon explores that world of early comic-book writing. Hitler’s shadow stretches far and wide, looming over two Jewish boys who find a way of making money through comic books."

The continuing success of the superhero genre seems absolute. Movies and television shows based on the exploits of caped crime-fighters have taken much of the spotlight around the world with record-breaking weekend releases and television ratings. When watching movies like The Avengers and shows lik…

06/13/2015

"I never imagined I’d pick up a book heavy with poems of wrestlers...But this is where contemporary poetry has taken us, beyond the steel cage, slowly down from the rafters in a singlet, slick with baby-oil, a full head of bleached blond hair."

I’m in the ring, holding Todd Kaneko’s The Dead Wrestler Elegies over my head, ready to pitch it over the top rope and into the breathless crowd. I never imagined I’d pick up a book heavy with poems of wrestlers, their ceremonies and the author’s own skillfully executed illustrations. But this is wh…

06/13/2015

After the First World War, traumatized soldiers were often prescribed a course of reading.

06/13/2015

"Set in Amsterdam in 1632, "The Anatomy Lesson" by Nina Siegal tells the story behind one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp." Through multiple first-person perspectives, Siegal brings the characters portrayed in the painting and those behind the scenes to life..."

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes it is worth so much more. Have you ever wondered about the story those words could tell? Have you ever looked at a painting and tried to understand the people portrayed – what their lives were like, why they posed for this port…

06/04/2015

"Who among us has not stretched or spun the truth at one time or another?"

I almost didn’t attend Luke Brown’s reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last summer. It was a long day, an unknown name. (Two unknown names, I should say, as Brown was reading with Nick Harkaway—who is apparently not as unknown on the side of the pond opposite my usual.) But I did.…

05/17/2015

Booksellers joining in on the first annual Independent Bookstore Day earlier this month showed the sort of smarts and energy that help them survive the chains and Amazon.

05/08/2015

"In Gail Carriger’s world of spies, steampunk, and scandal, tea is of the utmost importance, and supernaturals are pesky creatures at best."

Welcome to Gail Carriger’s world of spies, steampunk, and scandal where tea is of the utmost importance and supernaturals are pesky creatures at best. Set in Victorian England, Prudence picks up twenty years after Carriger’s breakout series the Parasol Protectorate leaves off. It follows Lady Pruden…

04/21/2015

Elise Brand sits down with Kristina Moriconi, Montgomery County's 2014 Poet Laureate.

I sat down to talk poetry with Kristina Moriconi on a recent Sunday morning. We met early over coffee, the conversation easy. When I looked at my watch to check the time, two hours had gone by. Her enthusiasm is contagious.