When I first took over the OUPblog I gave our readers a chance to ask me questions so they could get to know me. Since Lauren will be in charge starting Monday (get excited!), I decided to ask her a few questions before I go. I think her answers will give you a taste of how lucky we are to have her on-board. Don’t worry, I plan on saying a proper goodbye tomorrow (Friday).
What is your favorite fiction book?
Becca, we’ve had this conversation so many times. For the sake of this Q&A, I’ll forgo my top 10 and say The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. This year is actually the 20th anniversary of the book’s publication. Also, fun fact: O’Brien and I share an Alma Mater.
What is your favorite non-fiction book?
Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. Hands down. No contest. ’Nough said.
What is your favorite guilty pleasure blog?
Overheard in the Office is pretty great.
What kind of flowers should we send you?
Who’s “we”? And why am I getting flowers? I don’t think I should be trusted with flowers. This cactus isn’t looking so good itself. Remember when we had to hide it in a file cabinet for a week? I gave it too much too much sun, Becca. I exposed a cactus to too much sun.
What was your first blog post ever?
I had a LiveJournal back in the day. I have no idea what my first post was, but I’m sure it was something to the effect of, “Hey everyone! I’m Lauren! My favorite color is purple, I have a major sweet tooth, and I’m so totally obsessed with Dark Angel.” I think I had a really big impact on the lives of all (2) of my readers.
What other languages do you speak?
I used to speak pretty decent Japanese, but now I mostly just mumble things like, “aré?” and “éé, nanto ka…” usually directed at my computer. I know some French as well, and one very important phrase in Spanish: “Y para mi, un café con leche por favor.” I recently went to Spain, but that was all I knew how to say, so I was a bit shaky the whole time.
If your friend were visiting NYC, what is the one thing they should do while they are here?
Whenever I have visitors, the first thing we do is go to 5 Napkin Burger. Airport –> 5 Napkin. Bus stop –> 5 Napkin. IKEA ferry –> 5 Napkin. Can you drop off your luggage first? No you cannot. Because: 5 Napkin.
What color are your socks today?
Socks are for people who are wearing shoes…
What is your favorite Twitter hashtag?
#thefuture. Except when it’s being used to denote something actually in the future.
Fill in the blank: I’m psyched to be the OUPblog editor because it is _tasty_.
…
Oh, we’re not doing this Mad Libs style?
Author Kevin J. Hayes has been very busy writing American Literature: A Very Short Introduction, but he needs your help. Find out what you can do below. Check out his past posts here.
My previous blog took for its topic the genre of autobiography, which will be the subject of Chapter 3 in my forthcoming book, American Literature: A Very Short Introduction. This topic generated less comment than my earlier blogs, which surprised me somewhat. To me, autobiography is an exciting genre for critical exploration. I still welcome comments on autobiography, but for this new blog I am moving on to the subject of my fourth chapter: the short story. And I have come up with a question certain to generate some lively discussion: what are the five greatest short stories in the history of American literature?
Before anyone answers that question, perhaps I should establish one or two ground rules. Were I to answer it myself, the top five short stories in American literature might all be stories by Edgar Allan Poe. No doubt others feel the same way, too. But if all of you submit lists consisting solely of Poe stories, your responses will not really help me very much. Let’s make the following rule: only one story per author allowed in the list.
Top five and top ten lists have been around for a long time. In 1928, as I noted in The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville, Edward O’Brien made a list of the top fifteen short stories of all time, putting Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” at the top of the list and claiming that it was “the noblest short story in American literature.” Does O’Brien’s claim hold up eighty years later? The short story is a product of the nineteenth century, and many of the best writers of short fiction in American literature emerged then. But what impact did the twentieth century have on the development of short fiction? Have there been any good short stories in the twenty-first century? I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
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I have to admit that when I was my boys’ age (9 and 6), I’d never heard of Beowulf and I still haven’t actually read it – but it was the first book Son Number 2 pulled out of the Christmas pile. His grandmother was very impressed! And I don’t think he knew the name because of the film which came out in November – that hasn’t reached the wilds of Yorkshire yet.
Erstwhile Children’s Laureate (UK), author Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman have teamed up on a goodly number of books and their vibrant retellings of legends are always more than a satisfying read. So I’m looking forward to starting on Beowulf as a bedtime story soon: as are my boys, even though they’ve both now read it. They still love hearing stories they already know, as well as new ones.
Two Graphic Novel versions of the story have been nominated for the Cybils – we’ll find out very soon if they’ve been shortlisted; in the meantime you can read a review by A Year of Reading here.
Michael Morpurgo’s retelling is aimed at a younger audience – but then, as Not Just For Kids says, it’s not just for grown-ups! Thanks too for the link to this review of the film by Michael Morpurgo – the message comes through loud and clear: read the book, read the book!
Finally, while looking around to see what anyone else has said about Beowulf, I came across this moving post from author Uma Krishnaswami – Beowulf had a role to play in the setting up of John’s Shelf, a mobile book-shelf for taking books to children at the Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico – they accept donations of books in English, Spanish and Navajo – and who knows, it sounds like an initiative that could (and should) catch on…
