Articles by Janet Potter
August 31, 2011
Conversations with Cocktails: Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility 3
It’s reminiscent of Fitzgerald or Waugh, in that “what gay parties we all had in those days, until our inner demons simply couldn’t be repressed any longer” vein.
August 30, 2011
A Visit to Gettysburg 1
The Gettysburg gaze is a particular brand of narration that pervades the town, describing every skirmish as good vs. good. Good wins.
July 29, 2011
A Thousand and One Knights: George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons 12
Seabiscuit wasn’t about a horse. You don’t have to like football to love Friday Night Lights. A great narrative is great in any genre, and A Song of Ice and Fire is perhaps the most compelling, fully realized narrative in modern literature.
June 22, 2011
The Three Worlds of Jesse Ball’s The Curfew 3
Much of Ball’s writing takes place in worlds that are slightly off, where the rules of society have been changed, and both the characters in these worlds and we, the readers, aren’t entirely clear what the new rules are. I’ve never felt oriented in one of Ball’s novels, but I’m quite sure I’m not meant to.
May 27, 2011
Staff Picks: Richard P. Feynman’s Six Easy Pieces 4
This is not really physics for beginners, then, but extremely advanced physics explained conversationally, so that students with a working knowledge of the sciences will be intrigued and inspired by the majestic complexity of the discipline, even if they can’t grasp it yet.
May 12, 2011
Mad, Mad World: Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test 7
With 40 being the highest score, the psychopath range starts in the mid-20s, but really, I don’t want you feeding my cat if you get more than 10 (although, to be frank, I just gave my cat a 22).