Off the Shelf
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
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Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
I love Michael Crichton. I also love pirates. So when I found Pirate Latitudes on my father's bookshelf, I was understandably excited. The author of such thrillers as Jurassic Park and Timeline was bound to do brilliantly with swashbucklers and wenches and mystical creatures like the Kraken, right?
Well, turns out my high expectations were only partially met.
Pirate Latitudes follows the voyage of Captain Hunter and crew, who are on a "privateerng" mission against the Spanish. Their ship sails out from the Caribbean town of Port Royal under contract with the British governor. Without giving too much of the plot away, the crew faces many setbacks on their voyage, from encounters with giant sea monsters to cannibals.
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
|Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
I’ll be honest. I started reading Possessing the Secret of Joy for a class. I’d avoided reading Alice Walker in high school, and I didn’t really have any desire to read her work in college. I assumed her writing would be dry and monotonous like the other novels my 11th grade English professor assigned us. I couldn’t have been further off.
Walker's novel reveals the mind of Tashi (also referred to as Evelyn, Tashi-Evelyn, and Mrs. Johnson), a woman from the Olinkan tribe in an unnamed African country who underwent female circumcision. The story follows Tashi’s struggle to come to terms with her circumcision and the efforts of her family to support her, as readers are left to piece together the events of Tashi’s life.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
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Bossypants by Tina Fey
I first fell in love with Tina Fey through her portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Then I became obsessed with her show 30 Rock and made a point of watching any of her movies I could get my hands on. So, obviously, I had very high hopes when I began reading Bossypants. I was not disappointed.
