Minotaur's Spotlight

Is/Was Atticus Finch a fraud? The recent release of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman has sparked a controversy of opinions. Here are a few links offering a variety of opinions. Tell us your thoughts.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/16/go-set-watchman-plot-twists

http://thefederalist.com/2015/07/14/of-course-atticus-finch-was-a-racist-and-thats-okay/

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/eric-schnurer/2015/07/16/atticus-finchs-racist-turn-in-go-set-a-watchman-has-a-silver-lining

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/his-name-was-atticus/398600/

http://www.ibtimes.com/racist-atticus-finch-go-set-watchman-scholars-predict-shift-how-harper-lees-classic-2011922

http://www.livescience.com/51599-atticus-finch-racism.html

"Girlhood is complicated; it isn’t linear, it isn’t grounded in any reality, and when it says one thing, it is trying to open your eyes to another."

Putting Twee in Poetry: The Girls of Peculiar Combats Kitsch with Kitsch | Minotaur's Spotlight Though the Oscar-nominated Boyhood began its filming in 2002, the story of girlhood came to fruition an entire year earlier in Catherine Pierce’s 2013 poetry collection, The Girls of Peculiar. Girlhood is complicated; it isn’t linear, it isn’t grounded in any reality, and when it says one thing, it…

"'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier' and Clay by Michael Chabon explores that world of early comic-book writing. Hitler’s shadow stretches far and wide, looming over two Jewish boys who find a way of making money through comic books."

Kenny Charriez Explores the Origin of Superheroes and Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay | Minotaur's... The continuing success of the superhero genre seems absolute. Movies and television shows based on the exploits of caped crime-fighters have taken much of the spotlight around the world with record-breaking weekend releases and television ratings. When watching movies like The Avengers and shows lik…

"I never imagined I’d pick up a book heavy with poems of wrestlers...But this is where contemporary poetry has taken us, beyond the steel cage, slowly down from the rafters in a singlet, slick with baby-oil, a full head of bleached blond hair."

Michael Salgado Reviews Kaneko’s The Dead Wrestler Elegies | Minotaur's Spotlight I’m in the ring, holding Todd Kaneko’s The Dead Wrestler Elegies over my head, ready to pitch it over the top rope and into the breathless crowd. I never imagined I’d pick up a book heavy with poems of wrestlers, their ceremonies and the author’s own skillfully executed illustrations. But this is wh…

Is Reading the New Therapy? - The New Yorker After the First World War, traumatized soldiers were often prescribed a course of reading.

"Set in Amsterdam in 1632, "The Anatomy Lesson" by Nina Siegal tells the story behind one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp." Through multiple first-person perspectives, Siegal brings the characters portrayed in the painting and those behind the scenes to life..."

Courtney Lee Malpass Reviews Nina Siegal’s Novel The Anatomy Lesson | Minotaur's Spotlight It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes it is worth so much more. Have you ever wondered about the story those words could tell? Have you ever looked at a painting and tried to understand the people portrayed – what their lives were like, why they posed for this port…

"Who among us has not stretched or spun the truth at one time or another?"

Nate Drenner Reviews My Biggest Lie by Luke Brown | Minotaur's Spotlight I almost didn’t attend Luke Brown’s reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last summer. It was a long day, an unknown name. (Two unknown names, I should say, as Brown was reading with Nick Harkaway—who is apparently not as unknown on the side of the pond opposite my usual.) But I did.…

Indie Bookstores Are Finally Not Dying Booksellers joining in on the first annual Independent Bookstore Day earlier this month showed the sort of smarts and energy that help them survive the chains and Amazon.

"In Gail Carriger’s world of spies, steampunk, and scandal, tea is of the utmost importance, and supernaturals are pesky creatures at best."

Kitty Shields Reviews Prudence, by Gail Carriger | Minotaur's Spotlight Welcome to Gail Carriger’s world of spies, steampunk, and scandal where tea is of the utmost importance and supernaturals are pesky creatures at best. Set in Victorian England, Prudence picks up twenty years after Carriger’s breakout series the Parasol Protectorate leaves off. It follows Lady Pruden…

Elise Brand sits down with Kristina Moriconi, Montgomery County's 2014 Poet Laureate.

Making Time to Make Things: Montgomery County Poet Laureate 2014 Kristina Moriconi in... I sat down to talk poetry with Kristina Moriconi on a recent Sunday morning. We met early over coffee, the conversation easy. When I looked at my watch to check the time, two hours had gone by. Her enthusiasm is contagious.