Whenever a book becomes a show or movie, the tired old argument of which is better rears its head. My opinion on the matter is that books and television are too different to compare side by side. Films and television shows have many more limitations such as runtimes and budgets. Books, on the other hand, can go as deep as they want but they don’t have that intense visual stimulus (although your mind creates some great visuals). Game of Thrones is known for its complicated plot lines and its deep character development. In both the show and the book, the …
Beyoncé is regarded as one of the most influential pop icons of the 21st century. Did you know she is also a reader? In fact, many aspects of her recent video Lemonade come from books. For example, the sequence “Hold Up” comes from a book called The Bat by Pipilotti Rist. The book itself is more of a collage of images but it still conveys a story that was significant enough to be a featured in Beyoncé’s video. Perhaps most importantly is Beyoncé’s biography, Becoming Beyoncé by J. Randy Taraborrelli. The book outlines her matrimonial struggles with intense detail. Fans are speculating …
Gaby and Adam talk about the first 95 pages of our book club’s first book: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu written by Joshua Hammer. My impression from the first part of the book are scattered. The beginning is about Abdel Kader Haidara amassing a large collection of religious scholarship from a wide variety of Middle Easter countries. Part of the importance of his quest is to provide evidence that Islam is not a religion of hate. Haidara expresses that terrorists groups like the muhajadeen are interpreting the Koran incorrectly. After collecting manuscripts in the beginning, the book immediately starts a scattershot of Middle Eastern history. …
Yet again, Americans are being forced to choose between two candidates that don’t quite represent the ideals of the common citizen. There’s Donald Trump who is openly against liberal values, and plans to use the government as a tool to achieve whatever aims he sees fit. Then we have Hillary who, in the eyes of many, represents the established ruling class. In The Republic, Plato outlines a very similar situation and explains how a democracy can easily be taken over by a tyrannical leader. We must pay attention to our history because, in the words of philosopher George Santayana, “Those …
Earlier today Margaret Atwood received the highly sought after PEN Pinter Prize. This award is granted to one UK writer and one international writer who has faced adversity in their career. The prize, in the jury’s own words, is a “campaign to defend writers and readers in the UK and around the world whose human right to freedom of expression is at risk.” Judges praised Margaret for her “consistent support for political causes”, Primarily in her “work championing environmental concerns” has helped bring awareness to millions of readers around the world. Atwood was also recently awarded the Orion Book Award for MaddAddam, a book is …
