Acceptance
A Different Way to Read
Learning to read critically can seem daunting. Works of theory and criticism aren't always the most inviting pieces to read. Not so with Prose's book. She uses samples from widely varying novels and stories - from Heinrich von Kleist to Isaac Babel to Flannery O'Connor to John le Carre - to illustrate how authors use sentence structure, pacing, dialogue, and other devices to develop the story and keep the reader interested. A perfect book for teachers and students looking for inspiration or for casual readers who want to try a different reading technique. You'd better clear your "To Be Read" list when you're done with this book - you'll want to read all the authors Prose references, too!
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University
When Brown University student Kevin Rouse applied to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, he wasn’t just a liberal Ivy Leaguer slumming in a fundamentalist “Bible boot camp.” As The Unlikely Disciple demonstrates, he was making an honest leap across a giant gaping cultural and religious chasm. What he learned in his “sinner’s semester” at this stern Christian institution (no sex, no kisses, no protracted hugs) should convince would-be warriors on both sides of the great divide that they can learn something from other viewpoints; but even if you read this book as just a brave anthropological experiment, it’s worth your time and its price.
Admission: A Novel
Portia Nathan, the sympathetic protagonist of this novel, has the whole world on her 38-year-old shoulders. This overworked Princeton admission officer approaches her job with such extreme earnestness that the rest of her life seems to fall away. A single visit to an experimental school unfolds into a series of events that lead poor Portia to the edge of occupational ruin and even madness. Admission is an ambitious novel that persuades you to accept its emotional rollercoaster rides becuase its central characters are plausible. It also has a major attribute that should make it a favorite among hopeful parents of high school students: the fiction offers a very detailed account of the deliberations that take place behind those closed admissions department doors.
