Jonathan Franzen

I discovered the last couple of books I’ve read quite by accident.  More accurately, I discovered them the way that I once did—before I read so many books reviews and had such a long list of items on request from the library.  I browsed.  Browsing for fiction can be a daunting task, and I fully understand how people can be thoroughly overwhelmed at the prospect of finding something they will enjoy.  Books are arranged by author, after all, not their characteristics.  Readers’ Advisory guru Nancy Pearl has even suggested a pie chart method labeling books, so that potential readers could see

It happens once a week at choir practice on Wednesday evening.  Reading through a new piece of music will undoubtedly raise the question of whether or not to modify gendered language.  There’s only so much you can do with the words “king,” “father” and “lord” before you’ve made a piece of music entirely absent of lyricism.  Typically, the director will ask how strongly we feel about changing the language and a few eyes will dart to me, wondering what the most vocal resident feminist will suggest.  Ty