What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man
Art Garfunkel Knopf
Art Garfunkel once envisioned a simple life as a mathematics teacher. He earned a master’s degree and was well on his way to becoming a PhD. That plan was derailed when he and Paul Simon became famous as the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.
What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man is a charming book of prose and poetry printed in a digitalized version of his handwriting. In it, he reveals his thoughts and feelings about his turbulent life.
Garfunkel’s accomplishments are many: With Paul Simon, he won six Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a solo singer, he scored three Top 20 hits. He also won acclaim for his film roles in Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge.
In 1970, S&G broke up after dominating the pop charts for five years.
His poems in Luminous are witty, candid and wildly imaginative. He comes through as a highly intelligent man trying to make sense of his extraordinary life. Waka Tsunoda, The Associated Press
There’s Someone Inside Your House Stephanie Perkins Dutton Children’s Books
In Stephanie Perkins’ latest young adult novel, There’s Someone Inside Your House, teen romance and grisly murders crawl into the back seat of the car for a make-out session.
Makani Young has yet to fall in love with her new life in Nebraska with her grandmother. Though she’s made a few friends, she still misses the food, the waves and the weather of Hawaii. The good news is that nobody in her new school knows who she is or what she did last year. The bad news is that a serial killer is busy targeting the students of Osborne High.
As the body count and panic rise, Makani, her two best friends (Alex and Darby) and new love interest (Ollie Larsson) try to piece together a connection between the victims. They also work on staying alive.
The Nebraska cornfields provide a glorious backdrop for blood-soaked scenes and prove equally as valuable in framing the love story.
Multi-faceted characters and fresh dialogue add texture, while the teetering status of Makani and Ollie’s relationship combined with the hunt for the killer creates suspense from all angles.
Perkins has a knack for the unnerving. Frightened teens stumble upon hair-raising oddities: rearranged furniture, a set of keys in the vegetable crisper, an egg timer positioned atop a welcome mat. She also overlays her work with a flair of carnival sideshow, weaving in sinister humour amid the horror.
When readers hear the squelching sound of a victim’s head coming off, they may wonder if laughter is permissible at a time like this. The answer is yes, but remember to check under the bleachers first for any knifewielding assailants.