long pauses

home   |   about   |   films   |   words   |   archive   |   search

Two Questions

Tuesday, May 17, 2005  

I'm looking for reading suggestions.

Request 1. This summer I'll be teaching a novel to my English as a Second Language students. Ideally, it should be:

• A great work of 20th century American fiction.
• Relatively short -- under 250 pages.
• A compelling read with a compelling plot.
• A novel that has been adapted into a good film. This criterion isn't a must, but I like to end the summer by having everyone over for dinner and a movie.

Last year we did To Kill a Mockingbird, which went over really well. I'm considering The Great Gatsby, but one of my students has already seen the film, and, also, I can't in good conscience show any adaptation that casts Mia Farrow as Daisy. Ideas?

Request 2. An old friend and I have been exchanging emails for the last few days. He's a songwriter who is looking to spend some time "mining language." I like that metaphor. He wants to read great images, great sentences, language rich with metaphor and poetry.

My first thought was Michael Ondaatje, whose prose is just head-shaking beautiful at times. I passed along a few other names, but I'm curious to hear more. Who are the writers who you read for the language?

---

Top  

0 Comments:

---

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

« Home

  

Archive August 1999 January 2000 February 2000 April 2000 January 2001 April 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 March 2002 April 2002 June 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 August 2009 September 2009 December 2009 January 2010 April 2010