Minotaur's Spotlight

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

Animal Farm Timeline Cover of Snowball’s Chance, 2002. Cover of Why Orwell Matters, 2002. Timeline to this Timeline September 9, 2001, I’m walking down Lafayette Street with my wife. We’re close to my apartment, with the Tribeca sky, the sky of my youth, hovering above our destination. I have a title idea. “Snowball’s C…

"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."

Putting Twee in Poetry: The Girls of Peculiar Combats Kitsch with Kitsch | Minotaur's Spotlight 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…

"'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."

Kenny Charriez Explores the Origin of Superheroes and Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay | Minotaur's... 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…

"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."

Michael Salgado Reviews Kaneko’s The Dead Wrestler Elegies | Minotaur's Spotlight 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…

Is Reading the New Therapy? - The New Yorker After the First World War, traumatized soldiers were often prescribed a course of reading.

"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..."

Courtney Lee Malpass Reviews Nina Siegal’s Novel The Anatomy Lesson | Minotaur's Spotlight 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…

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

Nate Drenner Reviews My Biggest Lie by Luke Brown | Minotaur's Spotlight 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.…

Indie Bookstores Are Finally Not Dying 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.

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

Kitty Shields Reviews Prudence, by Gail Carriger | Minotaur's Spotlight 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…

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

Making Time to Make Things: Montgomery County Poet Laureate 2014 Kristina Moriconi in... 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.

"There is no such thing as an off-limits topic for comedy, just ineffective and lazy joke tellers. There is no such thing as a plot device or concept that is out-of-bounds in literature, just poor storytellers."

Creative Risk-Taking | Minotaur's Spotlight Renowned insult comic, Jeff Ross, has been eviscerating celebrities and public figures for decades now. He’s built a formidable career by hurling mean-spirited, NSFW jokes with the precision and proficiency of a prizefighter. In an increasingly politically-correct, sensitivity-policing society, The…

"Nature saturates Rasmussen’s work. Leaves and fields are a common theme, shrouding the reader in a cocoon of Darwinist fibers. Readers will find fields to represent permanent fixtures of Mother Nature, while leaves symbolize just how temporary our existence is on Earth."

Jeremy Jusek Reviews Black Aperture | Minotaur's Spotlight Matt Rasmussen spent more than a decade crafting the heartbreaking poetry collection Black Aperture, a book that is haunted by his brother’s su***de. Rasmussen is unflinching and brutal regarding his brother’s death, forgoing magic in favor of precise, poignant imagery. Pivoting around the events of…

"Red Doc> reads like Carson’s mania has been simmering under her skin for years and has suddenly boiled over onto the page in a brilliant catharsis."

Chad Frame Reviews Anne Carson’s Red Doc | Minotaur's Spotlight Anne Carson’s newest novel-in-verse, Red Doc, is the sequel to 1998’s Autobiography of Red, the story of the red-winged Classical Greek monster Geryon reimagined in a contemporary setting. In Autobiography, Geryon is an introverted teenager obsessed with photography, grappling with s*xuality, aliena…

Are we still talking about this? Yes. Yes we are. MS wonders what would happen if someone earned their MFA in NY. That writer would be unstoppable...or very confused.

Why Writers Love to Hate the M.F.A. The proliferation and power of graduate degrees in creative writing have inspired heated scholarly debate. Aspiring novelists, take note.

"Hazo’s poems challenge readers to consider worry as a form of love and present a question of s*x and love without the other. His poems evoke the idea of being right versus certain, and when to start trusting someone."

Shauna-Maria Andolina Reviews Sexes: The Marriage Dialogues | Minotaur's Spotlight Dr. Samuel Hazo was born in 1928 and has had a lifetime of literary success publishing poetry, plays, fiction and essays. He is also the founder and director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Sexes: The Marriage Dialogues, Hazo’s poems are enjoyable because of how he…

"By the end, I knew why it was compared to The Handmaid’s Tale—they’re both about resilience and going against the repression of a caste society."

Maddie Anthes Reviews The Bees, by Laline Paull | Minotaur's Spotlight I picked up Laline Paull’s The Bees wondering how on earth a novel about insects would work. I’d heard the book compared to The Handmaid’s Tale, which further drew my curiosity. How could a book about bees be compared to one of my favorite books of all time?

After we had our fill of Dickens, we took a ride out to The Keats House where he wrote many of his most important works, thus, bringing MS's 2015 London literary pilgrimage to a close.

We visited The Charles Dickens Museum today in London. We hope his desk will inspire you to sit and write this morning.

Michele Reale reviews Cameron Conaway's poetry book about malaria. Yes, malaria. Who knew someone could write so beautifully about it? Dig in.

Malaria, by Cameron Conaway; Poems of Witness | Minotaur's Spotlight Reading Cameron Conaway’s biography, one would not imagine him to be the author of a book of poetry about the dreaded disease, malaria, but there you have it; he is. Conaway is a man of the world, a man who wears many hats: Executive Director at GoodMenProject.com, a former MMA fighter (!) , adviso…

We took a little trip this weekend to get some lemon soap. We'll go back later for the lotion.

Heading to New York soon and need your fix? This list has got you covered.

New York City's 20 Best Independently Owned Bookstores, Mapped The best spots for getting lost between two covers.

Francis Daulerio talks manuscript creation, publication, and the fine art of hashtagging.

Behind the Metaphorical Scenes with Fran Daulerio: What It’s Like When Your First Poetry Book Is... MS: So. Congratulations on your manuscript’s acceptance—or maybe I should say “selection.” How is it exactly that your manuscript began its journey towards book-hood?

Michael Boldizar Reviews Able Muse's Winter 2014 Issue and unpacks a couple of poems.

Michael Boldizar Reviews Able Muse’s Winter 2014 Issue | Minotaur's Spotlight After reading through some previous poetry highlights from the Able Muse website, I decided to give the entire Winter 2014 Review a read. As I expected, I found a handful of thoroughly enjoyable poems, including “Sunny,” by Catherine Savage Brosman, and “Gyroscope,” by J. P. Grasser. “Sunny” catches…

Any list with Tina Fey and Harry Potter on it is ok in our opinion.

26 Contemporary Books That Should Be Taught In High School "I was born with a reading list I will never finish." —Maud Casey

March Madness meets Fiction Frenzy. The Morning News Tournament of Books.

The Morning News Tournament of Books - Presented by Field Notes Stephen Marche: The life-and-death struggle in my soul between Sarah Waters’s The Paying Guests and Will Chancellor’s A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall has raged for a week. It’s a classic battle between two visions of the novel: one that lives and breathes comfortably in the tradition; the other that…

Where Rimbuad found peace, and an escape from poetry (and Verlaine's bullets).

Where Rimbaud Found Peace in Ethiopia The mercurial French poet Arthur Rimbaud found a refuge from his earlier life in his ‘beloved Harar,’ where he became a merchant and arms dealer.

We saw this on IFLScience. Had to share.

"Talent and desire alone are not enough. You’ve got to be willing to put in the work," says Schimri Yoyo in this article exploring what makes good descriptive language.

Craft Elements: Descriptive Language | Minotaur's Spotlight In Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose Flannery O’Connor said, “Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.”