Esther, JT, Harvey, and Me

by Carole Wallencheck "The Shaman Rat" on February 22, 2010

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I don’t read graphic novels. The exception to that blanket statement is that I have read all of Harvey Pekar’s incredible work.  I’m also not Jewish ( Harvey is), but I live in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs, so I’ve picked up some Yiddish idioms and have on occasion attended temple services.  For those of you who are Jewish (or generally inquisitive about world religions), and who do read graphic novels, I’ve got a hot book for you just in time for Purim.

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All I Really Need to Know About Zen Buddhism…

by Carole Wallencheck "The Shaman Rat" on February 1, 2010

…I learned from J. D. Salinger. Well, not everything, but it was my first exposure, and some of those lessons (both literary and philosophical) are with me still.

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Alchemy Revisited

January 4, 2010

Google’s first animated doodle alerted me to the fact that January 4th is Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday (well, one of them), so let’s break out the apple cider and have a toast.  Check out the timeline of Newton’s life, find out what “fluxions” are and why he has two birthdates, and watch a video postcard [...]

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Holmes for the Holidays

December 31, 2009

Let’s play a game. Imagine a movie company releasing a big, splashy film about Santa Claus, complete with computer-generated graphics and high-profile actors.  Now imagine that Santa shows up as a clean-shaven, black-haired, slender Japanese male dressed in a form-fitting cobalt blue jumpsuit and carrying a bloody butcher knife.  Bit of a disconnect there? Perhaps that [...]

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Classic Hauntings for Halloween

October 30, 2009

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During the past week I learned lots of tidbits about Dracula, the world’s most famous blood-sucker (yes, Virginia, there were vampires before Twilight and True Blood), as well as attending a program of dramatic readings of Edgar Allan Poe’s work. I was inspired to get reacquainted with these tales that never go out of style, [...]

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The Stranger in the Mirror: Doubles, Imposters, and Changelings

July 18, 2009

Below are books of fantasy and literature about doubles, imposters, and changelings. All of them are available through the libraries of the CLEVNET Consortium — many are owned by the Cleveland Hts-University Hts. Public Library System. You can click on the title if you’d like to order the book through the CLEVNET webcatalog.

Ceely, Jonatha
Mina

Conrad, Joseph
The [...]

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Sailing on the Chathrand

July 9, 2009

I wanted to run away to sea when I was a young girl. It was the wrong century, and I was the wrong gender, and the great sailing ships no longer plied the ocean, but I was captivated by the tales of Horatio Hornblower. Supplemented by Two Years before the Mast, A High Wind in [...]

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The Blog Formerly Known as The Mistress of Ancient Revelry

May 7, 2009

In library-land they throw around words & phrases like roman a clef, nom de plume, pseudonym, ghost-writer, and pen name – but none of those really fit this situation.  This is not a straight-forward title-change, nor an identity crisis.  I’m really harking back to my original name for this blog. Without going into the whys [...]

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Mr. Pekar’s Opus

January 29, 2009

Despite growing up with a grandfather named Dominic DiOrio and a full complement of Italian relatives, I never inherited the opera gene.  And despite growing up with Superman and The Flash, I never inherited the graphic novel gene, either. However, I do confess to having huge respect for American Splendor  and great affection for its [...]

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Beginnings (of all sorts)

January 6, 2009

It’s a new year, so let’s start with “Marley was dead: to begin with” and “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” If you share my reading tastes, you know where those sentences first saw the light of day. What follows are some of the best and the worst opening lines (my [...]

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