catapult magazine

SARAH,

Coming Through Slaughter is Ondaatje’s first novel, but it’s more a collage of fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, prose, lists, quotes, etc. it creates/recreates a rich time period in very appropriate ways. actually, you made me remember a review that i wrote about it a couple of years ago. watch for it in the feb. 14 issue…

Dan,
I’ve wanted to read the book on Chicago’s History. I’ve heard this book on “Nature’s Metroplois-Chicago & the Great West” is supposed to be a great book. Can you give me more detail on what the book discusses? I’m taking some time off from school and I’m trying to pick up a good book to read.

Thanks,
Letty B.

Jasonvb: I wanted to let you know that I just finished Life of Pi. For anyone looking for a GREAT book this summer, I would highly, highly recommend it! SO interesting!

Ibombino, I thought I had responded to this long ago! Even if you know a lot about Chicago’s history, this book would be interesting for you. The book starts with a discussion about why Chicago exists at all, and why it exists in its current location. It seems the equivalent of Chicago could have exsisted in other locations, but the swampy SW shore of Lake Michigan turned out to be the “predestined” place, as promoters would have it.

Cronon also discusses the role of the railroad in making Chicago the “natural” hub of nearly all trade in the midwest. Then he explains the commodification and standardization of grain, lumber, and meat — concepts basically invented in and for Chicago. It’s a brilliant book — you probably won’t look at the city the same way after reading it. If you do read it, let me know what you think!

I know I’m picking up on an old thread here, but I also wanted to chime in to say that Life of Pi was a good book. There is a bit of a controversy about whether the idea was stolen from a Brazilian writer, but it is nevertheless a very imaginative plot.

I’ve been reading some short stories by Franz Kafka (rereading the metamorphosis which is nothing short of fabulous). I was in Prague this summer and visited his grave so it made sense to go read his stuff. There’s a reason he was famous! Despite the sometimes strange translations, there’s something really poignant about the things he writes about.

if there are any coupland fans out there, i just finished his newest, hey, nostradamus. so good. in the words of richard buckner, “both appalling and refreshing.”

take care,
eprentiss

Okay, I admit it. On vacation up to the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I read two of the Redwall books by Brian Jacques. Anybody ever read those. I find them amazingly refreshing — expecailly the idea of Redwall — this safe sanctuary in the midst of a brutal world. Jacques does ramble on about food though.