The Baron in the Trees is the captivating story of a young nobleman in the 18th century who decides – just as the title declares – to live among the leaves and branches, suspended above ground. As I wrote in my Luzzi’s List: 5 Favorite Reads of 2021: this mix of fantasy, fable, sci fi, […]
Post Type Archives: VBC Events
Matrix
Matrix is the story of the fascinating Marie de France, a medieval nun and brilliant poet whose mysterious Lais continue to enchant readers some eight centuries after they were written. Groff’s novel tells the dramatic story of Marie’s life, from her expulsion from the royal court of Eleanor of Aquitane in France to her life […]
Dubliners
It is difficult to encapsulate in few words just how towering a figure in literary history James Joyce was and remains. He changed forever the way we think about the “novel” with his monumental Ulysses from 1922, and in other works like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners he combined […]
The (Other) You
Joyce Carol Oates. The name is one of the most iconic in all of contemporary American literature, an author who has built up a staggering body of work that chronicles the American experience in all its complexity, depth, and texture. Oates is best known for bestselling novels like We Were the Mulvaneys, a haunting account […]
Frankenstein
I have been teaching Frankenstein for decades now, and it never ceases to amaze me: what starts as an extravagant “gothic” tale morphs into a breathtaking meditation on the nature of artistic – and human – creation, the psychology of guilt, and the ethics of pursuing knowledge at all costs. Shelley’s novel also provides a […]