fiction and creative non-fiction from Brennan Quenneville
Let's get this out of the way upfront: Ursula Le Guin is a master of the bildungsroman. A Wizard of Earthea, The Farthest Shore, Malafrena, and several of her other books are among the finest coming of age novels in American literature. There are few authors capable of elucidating the challenges of personal discovery the [...]
Even though I enjoy a few albums that rely pretty heavily on programming, and despite the fact that I actually own a drum machine, I don't know much about electronic music. I'm just not all that familiar with the style. So now that I've spent a good deal of time enjoying Tilian's decidely electronica Material Me (as predicted here), [...]
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a story of childhood adventure and, as such, the story's titular hero finds himself in a number of troublesome predicaments, usually as a result of his own childishly unchecked curiosity. Through Tom's adventures in overcoming these predicaments, Twain paints a remarkably accurate picture of the joys, fears, and trials [...]
Given my ties to the band, I suppose I should start out by saying that I am, obviously, biased in favor of all things Gates. If that's too close a bond for you, that's fine. You're more than welcome to head somewhere else on the internet to read any number of glowing reviews of Bloom [...]
Throughout middle school, high school, and then college, I read and re-read an old hand-me-down copy of the Edgar Allen Poe collection Tales of Mystery a number of times. Like a lot of teenagers, I loved Poe. He and his work were dark and creepy and fascinating. And though it's been a long time since I read [...]
With A Brief History of the Paradox, Dr. Roy Sorenson presents a relatively chronological development of the paradox and while the good doctor does his best to punch up the material, the subject matter's inherent dryness overcomes all. As any undergrad will tell you, philosophy can get boring in a hurry. Once you get past [...]
Meghan Trainor's debut EP Title arrives on the scene squarely at the intersection of contemporary pop and nostalgia. Like a lot of its pop contemporaries, the album is heavily processed and rigidly structured with everything in its appointed place to an almost mechanical degree. And yet the backbone of the EP is its doo-wop inspired, throwback-to-the-'50s [...]
First things first: I highly recommend Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Go. Read it. Oddly enough, my initial response was less rosy. After a few pages I didn't much care for the narrator's voice. By page 50 I was at least comfortable with it. And by page 92 I loved it. At the risk [...]
When I came across this review yesterday, I couldn't help but smile. In case you didn't follow that link (which you should), the book being reviewed is Drivel: Deliciously Bad Writing by Your Favorite Authors. It's a collection of early, and decidedly bad, writings from luminaries like Dave Eggers, Chuck Palahniuk, and A.J. Jacobs. Early [...]
I recently finished reading Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh which has given me plenty to think about, including a consideration of the roles that women are assigned in male-created art. It'll be a few days before I've pulled my thoughts into order regarding Chabon's work though, so in the meantime - and since we've only just passed Hobbit [...]
Songs & Stories 