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Table of Contents and first essay from American Romance (PDF 232 KB) Print Write a review Email this page Share this page		American Romances Essays Rebecca Brown Paperback - $16.95 $11.87 Save $5.08 (30%) Description Reviews In the News Excerpt Extras Detailed info Reader Reviews Reader comment | Mar 1, 2010, elena georgiou I assigned the essay, "Extreme Reading," from American Romances to two s of graduate writing students and—as I had hoped—it inspired so much thought and vibrant discussion, and continues to do so. We keep coming back to it and the phrase “extreme reading” has become part of our language. It is a wonderfully succinct way to say so much—about why and how we read. I love this book because it makes you think seriously about reading as you are reading. I think it should be put on some kind of...more compulsory reading list for the world. There are many brilliant moments in it, like: Every time you read a book you read what you desire. Every time you read a book you make that book your own. This book is about many things—the book cover blurbs list the icons—Gertrude Stein, Brian Wilson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and America. And all this is true it is about all these things. But since she goes to lengths to point out that Every time you read a book you read what you desire Every time you read a book you make that book your own then, this book, for me, is about the long search for faith. Reading And writing is Brown's faith. This book presents reading as something magical, mystical, and relevant. It is the opposite of academic. It makes reading come alive. It makes the reader interactive. I highly recommend it. Reader comment | Feb 18, 2010, Ellen Orleans In American Romances, Rebecca Brown pulls off nothing less than slight-of-hand/abundance-of-hand as she creates a work that is both scholarly and down-to-earth, eye-opening and familiar, painfully serious and funny as hell. Brown's fresh take on endnotes turns these essays 3-D, creating a conversation not only between author and reader but author and author. I was especially moved by Brown’s observations on childhood memory and the obfuscations of youth which we spend the rest of our adult...more lives threshing out. In the same way, her essay on God (…how hard it is for me, a being obsessed with words, to know God) spoke right to me. Ironically, this ties in with the essay "Extreme Reading," which says “Every book you read contains the story of your life.” “Invisible,” her musings on homosexuality and famous cloed queers, is sharp, brave and brilliant, and—dare I say the U word?—universal. I initially described American Romances as a slight-of-hand, but really, it isn’t magic. American Romances is that rare book that results from years of dedicated writing and a fearless heart. It’s the kind of book you’ll want to buy for your friends—with this one stipulation: Once they’re done reading, all of you will sit down together and continue the conversation. Reader comment | Feb 10, 2010, Amy Halloran This book is a gem. A beautiful triangle of cake you can eat and keep. No, an energy bar for the mind studded with the world's best figs, plump and seedy and full of sexy nutriment. In short, if the USDA assigned values to literature, reading these words would be very, very good for you. Read these pieces slowly. Savor them. The way the words and ideas are stacked is astonishing, making an absurd sense I didn’t think a book liked to make. The logic here is indirect. Connections span galaxies, as in the first essay, which links Brian Wilson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Lo and behold, the leaps work. They work very well. Reader comment | Feb 9, 2010, Corvid American Romances is one of Brown's finest books. It's far-ranging in it's consideration of the strange twists and confluences in American culture. The essays do not so much cross time and space as dwell in the midst of it all. You will want to read these essays over and over. Reader comment | Jan 28, 2010, Nancy Kiefer I love these essays! In this book Rebecca Brown explains and expresses things in such a way and helps make connections so convincingly that I think to myself, "Of course, I know what she means." In reality, she's deftly removed a heavy stone from the pathway of my thinking, yet she has removed it as if it were a silk curtain lightly pulled aside. Reader comment | Jan 27, 2010, Cecilia Galante From the very first essay in this incredible collection by Rebecca Brown, you will find yourself transported - simultaneously - into the minds of a child and an adult. Both ring truer than any voice I've come across Brown has a way of very gently knocking you upside the head with a realization so startling, a truth so vivid, that you wonder how and when you yourself will see so clearly. Bravo, Rebecca. Again. Reader comment | Aug 25, 2009, Amber Join the conversation! Reader comment | Aug 25, 2009, Amber Join the conversation!