The OWU English Department Blog
Recommended by Madina Sargand
I wanted to read this summer and I love fiction, so when I got an email from Dr. Livingston with a list of recommended books and saw the title The Box Man, I knew this book would be really interesting. The Box Man is a story about a protagonist who quits his identity and the trappings of a normal life to live in a cardboard box: he wants to become a box man.…
“When I was a kid I used to read so much that I would be going through, like, a book a day, maybe more on the weekends. So it’s always hard to say what my favorite book was, except I still remember the book that really stood out and resonated with little thirteen- or fourteen-year-old me.…
In Spring 2016, Dr. Lynette Carpenter and her “Reading and Writing about Place: Southern Louisiana” class participated in an interdisciplinary New Orleans adventure over Spring Break. Check out the story (written by Sturges alumnae Julia Stone ’16) about how her class worked together with Dr. Barbara Terzian’s history class and Dr.…
Recommended by Emily Shpiece
The play is a retelling of Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly in which a French ambassador, Rene Gallimard, falls in love with opera star Song Liling. They meet after Gallimard sees Liling portray the title role in Puccini’s opera and, inspired by his womanizing friend, Gallimard begins to test the limits of Liling’s confidence and pride believing that she, a Chinese woman, will eventually bend to his domineering Western position.…
“The thing about the 2016 welcoming ceremony in Alexandria is that I didn’t go there to see Hōkūle’a. Instead, I was there with my friend Steve Tamayo, who is Lakota. He and I had been visiting with staff members in the Cultural Resources Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, and visiting various museums in and around D.C.…
Not only is Dr. Caplan a world-renowned poet and literary scholar, he’s also a member of the Modern Language Association’s Creative Writing Forum, an international association for literature academics, critics, and researchers. Check out the OWU news story here!…
Favorite Authors, Genres, Periods, Interests?
One of my favorite all-around authors is Kurt Vonnegut. His wit and humor are so refreshing and his writing style is different than anything else I’ve read. My favorite book of his is Breakfast of Champions. One of my other favorite books is A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.…
“During my time volunteering in Thailand, I worked under this woman named Pin who was one of the main employees at the sanctuary. Every morning she would remind us that every animal we take care of, must be taken care of with love. When we remembered to take care of them with love, we remembered to treat them with kindness and to value their happiness.…
Recommended by Elizabeth Anderson
I read this novel on the back porch of my childhood home in a sleepy suburb of the Pacific Northwest over the summer, and was struck by the nearby history that I had never learned. Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist is based on and takes place during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle; its take on the historical facts of the event is painted by Yapa’s poignant, lyrical phrasing.…
Recommended by Jordan Waterwash
Christopher Moore’s ability to transform history into fantastical comedies completely mystifies me every time I read one of his books. Sacré Bleu is no exception. I’ve always been a fan of art, so it seemed natural for me to read what I thought would be an interesting tale about the lives of made-up artists during the Impressionist period.…
