www.richardjespers.com
  • Home
  • Books
  • Journals
  • Blog

Toy Boy

5/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
​Born May 29, 1917
Picture
JFK

New Yorker Fiction 2017

​***—Excellent
**   —Above Average 
*      —Average ​​
PictureBen Newman
​***May 29, 2017, Samanta Schweblin, “The Size of Things”: Enrique, a wealthy young man who lives with his mother, is abruptly cast aside and begins to live in a toy shop he often patronizes. ¶ For his keep he reorganizes the store for the owner, arranging toys by color instead of type. Business booms! The author seems to withhold as much as she reveals about Enrique. Why has he been kicked out by his mother? Why is he so child-like? Why are his unconventional methods so successful? Readers only know what the store owner knows, and though an omission of detail would normally be a storytelling sin, it seems to work here. It allows me to imagine. The author’s book, Fever Dream, recently came out in English.
Illustration by Ben Newman

NEXT TIME: My Book World

0 Comments

Surreal Love Story

5/22/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
You can't tell a millionaire's son from a billionaire's. 
​Vance Packard
Born May 22, 1914

Picture
V. Packard

New Yorker Fiction 2017

​***—Excellent
**   —Above Average 
*      —Average ​​
**May 22, 2017, Samantha Hunt, “A Love Story”: A northern California mother of three in her forties takes the reader on an almost surreal journey in which she tries to reconcile her roles as mother and wife with society’s perceptions. Hunt’s most recent book is Mr. Splitfoot.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017
0 Comments

Book-TV Update-Baker's 'Rigged'

5/19/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
Gay teenagers are four times as likely to attempt suicide as straight ones. I wish they knew that there's nothing wrong with them; that they are just a different shade of normal.
​Jodi Picoult
Born May 19, 1966
Picture
J. Picoult

My Book World

​​Each weekend I try to view selected portions of C-SPAN’s Book-TV, forty-eight straight hours of recorded author readings of nonfiction now hitting the shelves, and sometimes six- or eight-hour segments covering book festivals around the US. C-SPAN, by the way, is supported by most cable and satellite TV providers, so check your listings. You can also view at any time any reading at Book-TV’s Web site. And if you do wish to tune in, you can view, download, and print a copy of the weekend’s schedule off the Web site. Please find below a presentation I believe to be of interest to a broad audience.
Dean Baker. Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the
     Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer
.
     Washington DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research,
     2016.

In this book Baker “argues that government policies, not globalization or the natural workings of the free market, have led to the upward redistribution of wealth seen around the world over the past four decades.” His logical and comprehensive lecture offers one of the most compelling arguments I’ve ever heard on the subject. First aired January 17, 2107.

Click here to view Baker's presentation at C-SPAN's Book-TV.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017
0 Comments

On Not Flying

5/15/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
In London, Equus caused a sensation because it displayed cruelty to horses; in New York, because it allegedly displayed cruelty to psychiatrists.
​​Peter Shaffer
Born May 15, 1926
Picture
P. Shaffer

New yorker FICTION 2017

​***—Excellent
**   —Above Average 
*      —Average ​​
**May 15, 2017, Etgar Keret, “Fly Already”: A man out with his five-year-old son attempts to talk a man out of jumping from a building while his son, believing the man can fly, encourages him to do so. Which one wins in this very short but significant story? The author’s most recent book is The Seven Good Years.

NEXT TIME: My Book World
0 Comments

A Mother's Recipe

5/14/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood.
Isadora Duncan
Picture
I. Duncan

Pfeffernüsse

Pfeffernüsse are tiny spice cookies popular in the Netherlands and other northern European countries. 

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon cardamom(n)
1 teaspoon anise seeds
½ cup candied pineapple
2½ Tablespoons grated orange and lemon peel (from 2 oranges and 1 lemon)

Directions:
Sift and mix all dry above ingredients together.

​Then mix in a separate bowl:
2 Tablespoons butter
5 egg yolks (beat egg whites separately)
Cream butter and yolks and add
2 cups sugar
¼ cup molasses
Stir until smooth.

Add flour mixture and fold in well-beaten egg whites. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour, maybe longer. With floured hands shape dough into small balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Let stand uncovered for 12 hours at room temperature. Bake cookies at 350 for 15 minutes. Let cool. Glaze with confectioner’s sugar blended with milk. Instead, if desired, toss in sifted confectioner’s sugar.

“Makes about 83. First used successfully 1960. This is my own—using from 2 other recipes." -Norma Richards Jespers
​

Because Mother's heritage was partly German and because my father was Dutch she felt compelled to make Pfeffernüsse at Christmas time. No one ever asked her to stop.
Picture
Norma Richards Jespers and Son, 1982
NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017
0 Comments

Uncovered Ground

5/13/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
I always thought the saddest feeling in life is when you're dancing in a really joyful way and then you hit your head on something.
​
Lena Dunham
​Born May 13, 1986
Picture
L. Dunham

MY BOOK WORLD

Picture
​Whitehead, Colson. The Underground
     Railroad
. New York: Doubleday, 2016.
 
The tight structure of this novel is based on twelve chapters—six named for characters and six named for states or regions in the US. Each one shifts readers to where they need to be to follow the life of a runaway slave, Cora, in the pre-Civil War South. Cora’s grandmother, Ajarry, was a slave, and so was her mother, Mabel, who abandons Cora when she’s eleven. Rage governs Cora’s life, fuels her temper and her senses, both of which serve to save her life as she shapeshifts to fit varying situations above ground. The unsuspecting reader who learned in elementary school that Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad was not literal is in for a fantastical ride as Whitehead brings it alive, with stations and steam engines and schedules, even a pump handcar that serves as Cora’s final vehicle of escape. The author’s grasp of history, his simple yet elegant prose, and his understanding of the complex humanity of master and slave serve to create a novel that is worthy of all the praise and accolades it has received.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

0 Comments

Match Girl Revisited

5/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! But wait, there's more!
​
Thomas Pynchon
​Born May 8, 1937
Picture
T. Pynchon

New Yorker Fiction 2017

​***—Excellent
**   —Above Average 
*      —Average ​​
**May 8, 2017, Yiyun Li, “A Small Flame”: A Chinese-American woman reviews her would-be match-girl life in which adults consistently betray children. Li’s most recent book is a memoir, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life.

NEXT TIME: My Book World
0 Comments

Book-TV Update: Clavin's Dodge City

5/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
How can a doctor judge a woman's sanity by merely bidding her good morning and refusing to hear her pleas for release? Even the sick ones know it is useless to say anything, for the answer will be that it is their imagination.
Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran Seaman), Ten Days in a Mad-House
Born May 5, 
1864
Picture
N. Bly

My Book World

​Each weekend I try to view selected portions of C-SPAN’s Book-TV, forty-eight straight hours of recorded author readings of nonfiction now hitting the shelves, and sometimes six- or eight-hour segments covering book festivals around the US. C-SPAN, by the way, is supported by most cable and satellite TV providers, so check your listings. You can also view at any time any reading at Book-TV’s Web site. And if you do wish to tune in, you can view, download, and print a copy of the weekend’s schedule off the Web site. Please find below a presentation I believe to be of interest to a broad audience.
Tom Clavin. Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West. New York: St. Martin’s, 2017.
 
Clavin’s reading, held at Watermark Books and Café in Wichita, Kansas, is one that holds your attention throughout, as he reveals the real history of Dodge City, this infamous town of the Wild West. The author digs deep to dispel all the myths. The players—Earp, Masterson, and others—are neither all bad nor all good. With the dogged pursuit of a fine journalist Clavin uncovers the truth, and it is more interesting than the myths! Tune into find out. This first aired March 8, 2017.
 
Click here to view Clavin's presentation at C-SPAN's Book-TV.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017
0 Comments

Mesmerizing story

5/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
I'd like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private individuals.
​
Joseph Heller
Born May 1, 1923
Picture
J. Heller, 1961

New Yorker Fiction

***—Excellent
**   —Above Average 
*      —Average ​​
**​May 1, 2017, David Means, “Two Ruminations on a Homeless Brother”: In this mesmerizing story of the homeless, one ragged man is viewed first from afar by way of one long sentence; in the second half, another man is viewed by his own brother who visits him in a mental hospital.  Means’s novel, Hystopia, was published last year.

NEXT TIME: My Book World 
0 Comments
    AUTHOR
    Richard Jespers is a writer living in Lubbock, Texas, USA.

    See my profile at Author Central:
    http://amazon.com/author/rjespers


    Richard Jespers's books on Goodreads
    My Long-Playing Records My Long-Playing Records
    ratings: 1 (avg rating 5.00)


    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011



    Categories

    All
    Acting
    Actors
    African American History
    Alabama
    Alaska
    Aldo Leopold
    Andy Warhol
    Arizona
    Arkansas
    Art
    Atrial Fibrillation
    Authors
    Authors' Words
    Barcelona
    Blogging About Books
    Blogs
    Books
    California
    Cars
    Catalonia
    Colorado
    Cooking
    Creative Nonfiction
    Culinary Arts
    Deleting Facebook
    Ecology
    Education
    Environment
    Epigraphs
    Essays
    Fiction
    Fifty States
    Film
    Florida
    Georgia
    Grammar
    Greece
    Gun Violence
    Hawaii
    Heart Health
    Historic Postcards
    History
    Idaho
    Iowa
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Literary Biography
    Literary Journals
    Literary Topics
    Literature
    Maine
    Massachusetts
    Memoir
    Michigan
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    M K Rawlings
    Musicians
    Nevada
    New Hampshire
    New Mexico
    New Yorker Stories
    Nonfiction
    North Carolina
    Novelist
    Ohio
    Pam Houston
    Parker Posey
    Photography
    Playwrights
    Poetry
    Politics
    Psychology
    Publishing
    Quotations
    Race
    Reading
    Recipes
    Seattle
    Short Story
    South Carolina
    Spain
    Susan Faludi
    Teaching
    Tennessee
    Texas
    The Novel
    Travel
    Travel Photographs
    #TuesdayThoughts
    TV
    U.S.
    Vermont
    Voting
    War
    Washington
    Wisconsin
    World War II
    Writer's Wit
    Writing


    RSS Feed

    Blogroll

    alicefrench.wordpress.com
    kendixonartblog.com
    Valyakomkova.blogspot.com

    Websites

    Caprock Writers' Alliance
    kendixonart.com

    tedkincaid.com
    www.trackingwonder.com
    www.skans.edu
    www.ttu.edu
    www.newpages.com
    www.marianszczepanski.com
    William Campbell Contemporary Art, Inc.
    Barbara Brannon.com
    Artsy.net
WWW.RICHARDJESPERS.COM  ©2011-2023
                    BOOKS  PHOTOS  PODCASTS  JOURNALS  BLOG