MAD About the Sixties: The Best of the Decade By: "The Usual Gang of Idiots"

Such fun to revisit MAD Magazine!!  This perfectly curated look at the 1960's through the lens of MAD's cartoons, articles and spoofs manages to showcase the best of MAD and highlight the ups and downs of the decade,  Quite cleverly done! 

Grindstone By: Donna Walsh Inglehart

This book would have worked as just the story of an Irish immigrant living alone on a small island on the US/Canadian border during the Civil War.  Instead of leaving it that way Inglehart adds extra layers to the story and gives the reader a layered look at the effects of the Civil War from all sides from varied characters.  Despite its subject matter, it's a gentle read and it's beautifully written.

 

The Good Lord Bird By: James McBride

This account of John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry is no dry history!  It is laugh out loud funny, full of brilliant satire, and an amazing amount of heart (without being saccharine)!  Told form the point of view of a young boy, inadvertently kidnapped by Brown whom Brown thinks is a girl, whom he nickname's Onion-ya see how the book is already not a dry historical retelling! Don't tell the funny fool you though, this book will make you re-think everything you know about Brown and the prevailing thoughts and attitudes of the time and area.  Pure Brilliance!

The Inheritance of Loss By: Kiran Desai

Set at the time of Nehru's rise in India, the chaos in the country is reflected in all the characters n the book.  Desai's language is gorgeous.  She creates stunning visual pictures that have context, texture, taste and sound.  Unfortunately, it was an incredible downer.  Horrific circumstances and situations for every single character, with no let up.  It's hard to get into a book when it weighs you down...the beautiful writing is what saved this one for me.

 

The Hills of California By: Jez Butterworth

Butterworth's work is so deep in its simplicity.  The Hills of California  is a story of family, of ambition, of dreams deferred, and oh so much more.  It will stay with you long after you've finished it.

Yellow Face By: David Henry Hwang

What I really love about this piece is the absurdity of it and how the absurdity sneaks up on you.  Written 17 years ago, it is unfortunately, still relevant and the situations in it are infuriatingly still happening!! I do recommend the TCG version because Frank Rich's Foreward puts the piece and its author into their rightful place in the theatrical Pantheon!

 

English By: Sanaz Toossi

I can't rave enough about this play.  A deceptively simple play about a TOEFL test prep class in Iran, but in the end you realize there is nothing simple about.  Poignantly reminding the audience that language is tied to culture is tied to family, is tied to location is tied to self.  At times, funny (in a somewhat uncomfortable, on purpose way), deeply moving and always empathetic, this play is still in the forefront of my mind two years after I saw a production of it, and if you ever get the change to see this piece I highly recommend that you do so! 

The Roommate By: Jen Silverman

Oh, this one did not go where I thought it would!  A story that is awkward, funny, tense and deeply moving all at the same time.  A two hander for women of a certain age, this play is a deep look at aging, family and journey to self.  Really quite extraordinary.

 

Job By: Max Wolf Friedlich

A tense and dark two-hander with a gut punch of an ending. This is a prescient, taut thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you rethink your relationship to your screens!

Watchmen By: Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Re-read this brilliant novel and it's more than a little scary how the country today is reflect in this novel of  almost 40 years ago!