A few more book recs

Here are some more mystery/crime novels you might enjoy reviewing:

The Evil That Men Do by Dave White is a PI thriller that reads like a Die Hard movie crossed with a classic hard-boiled noir novel

Deception's Daughter by Cordelia Biddle, a historical mystery set in 1840s Philadelphia

Savage Night by Allan Guthrie, one of the best new Scottish crime writers, blood phobia, blood lust, katana swords and severed heads in Edinburgh

The Black Tower by Louis Bayard, a historical mystery featuring the legendary French detective Vidocq taking down the bad guys in 1818 Paris

Book Recommendations

If you are looking for a book to review for our class, here are some recommendations. Most of these authors are friends of mine and some may be visiting our class:

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski, fast-paced thriller, cross between an office comedy, spies and a slasher flick. Author is a La Salle grad and a former editor of the Collegian.

Freezer Burn by DH Dublin (Jonathan McGoran), third book of a forensic series set in Philadelphia (think CSI: Philly)

Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry, actually a non-fiction book in which the author has interviewed doctors, police, homeland security and many more officials about what would happen if there really was a zombie attack. This book is a lot of fun.

Bad Moon Rising by Maberry, third book of a horror trilogy set in a small town (modeled after New Hope) near Philly.

Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost, fantasy/sci-fi novel. Check it out here.

Lord Tophet by Frost

Standing Still by Kelly Simmons, a dark literary novel about kidnapping.

Perec and Lipograms

For your edification, here are some links you may enjoy:

Georges Perec at The Modern World

Georges Perec: A User's Maual

Lipogram at Word-A-Day

More lipograms

Prof's lipogrammatic first post for Fall 08 Composition

Salutations to my pupils.

Your first tasks for this class:

1) 250 words on any past writing of yours in which you outdid or did vanquish all
prior trials OR 250 words on your worst writing task

2) 200-250 words on any topic that omits a symbol, fifth in actuality, of that ABC grouping of writing marks. To wit, you will carry off a task akin to this lipogrammatic book, although your work will contain only 200-250 words.

3) Look at handouts by CM and PD, columnists of Philly journals, and plan to talk about particular ways in which said authors did form said works and how CM and PD's work draws on urban Philly as inspiration.

4) Pick a book that you will form an opinion about for an upcoming class.

5) Pay your $10 instructional amount at bursar's or bookshop.

Hand in all work at our upcoming Monday class.

Thank you

Thanks to everyone for a great semester. Good luck in your future endeavours. If you are still around the campus next year, I hope I'll run in to you.

Best,

Prof Pettit

Today is April 19, 2008 and I've been married for one week! Last Saturday at 10:30 a.m. I was wed to Darnell M. Herbert after six months of being engaged and one year of dating. We had a beautiful ceremony and an even better reception. In the past two months so much has taken place in my life that it feels I'm floating. Not only has my name changed but so did my address and my family. Life is going well and even though I'm afraid of change it's still good to accept change so move t a better part of life. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our happy day and also a few pictures of our honeymoon in Cancun Mexico. ENJOY!

What Should I Write About? Arrghh!

AHA! I finally have something to write about. It is simply that fact that I am not sure what I should write about. The thought of writing on the blog seems simply at first, but when I got to write on it. I can't think of anything. I have many interests but I often find it hard to articulate, or in this case write, these these ideas down. For the most part I think the ideas that I have are interesting, but I am not sure what I should write about the subjects. (As a side note, I am aware that I have so far this blog has made more than sufficient use of the words but and about...and it will continue) Sometimes I want to write about the fact that I do not have as much time as I would like to read novels, but I am not sure which aspect to write about. The fact that dealing with the stress that accompanies the Resident Assistant position keeps me from reading or the fact that I'm concerned with ideas for blog posts. I then become overwhelmed and usually resort to sleep as a refuge. Maybe I have some undiagnosed problem with lack of structure, which is odd because I am an artist by trade. Or maybe if I were to see this blog as a form of art it would be easir for me to paint with the brush that is my keyboard. Nevertheless, would someone please provide me with something interesting to blog about.
A thousand thanks,
Fred