Feature Stories
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Literarea
The Literarea will be all about words and the forms they take, from novels and essays to movies and TV shows. While our main focus will be on the written word, especially written words that are about Peoria, we will also cover those areas of the arts where the written word is key.
Taking a look at "The Trip"
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- Written by Kevin Kizer
On this week's episode of The Peorian on TV I have finally found the creative vehicle that combines my love for the literary, the culinary and the comedic. It's the film "The Trip" starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.
In this pseudo-documentary subtitled “eat, drink and try not to kill each other” Coogan is asked by The Observer to tour some of Britain’s finest restaurants for a special segment in the magazine. He envisions it as the perfect getaway for himself and his beautiful girlfriend. But, when she has to back out due to work obligations, the only person left to accompany Steve is his best friend and source of eternal aggravation, Rob.
Literarea Review: "James Madison and the Making of America"
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- Written by Kevin Kizer
The TV show doesn't give me enough airtime and I can't wait for the next magazine to come out so I decided to post a new literary review anyway. You're welcome!
James Madison and the Making of America
By Kevin R.C. Gutzman
As someone who is a bit of a Madison-phile or, more directly, a Virginian Founders-phile, this book was right in my wheelhouse. What I find most interesting are the years immediately after the Revolution ended when the various states had to adjust to true statehood. In short, they had to put on their big boy pants and were struggling a bit (as big boy's do).
Quick Lit Bits: "Ghost on the Throne"
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- Written by Kevin Kizer
The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire
By James Romm
According to the book:
The story of Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire is known to many readers, but the dramatic and consequential saga of the empire's collapse remains virtually untold. It is a tale of loss that begins with the greatest loss of all, the death of the Macedonian king who had held the empire together. With his demise, it was as if the sun had disappeared from the solar system, as if planets and moons began to spin crazily in new directions, crashing into one another with unimaginable force.
Quick Lit Bits: "An American Betrayal"
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- Written by Kevin Kizer
An American Betrayal: Cherokee Patriots and the Trial of TearsBy Daniel Blake Smith
According to the book:
Though the tragedy of the Trail of Tears is widely recognized today, the pervasive effects of the tribe's uprooting have never been examined in detail. Despite the Cherokees' efforts to assimilate with the dominant white culture—running their own newspaper, ratifying a constitution based on that of the United States—they were never able to integrate fully with white men in the New World.
Quick Lit Bits: "Solar"
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- Written by Kevin Kizer
Solar
By Ian McEwan
This was my first leap into the world of Ian McEwan and I wasn't disappointed. Published in 2010, “Solar” earned McEwan the Wodehouse Prize and for good reason. P.G. Wodehouse was the master of bright, crisp and wickedly satirical novels about Brits. And McEwan proves he’s a master of it as well in this funny, complex novel.
Sometimes I really enjoy unlikable main characters and the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, overweight womanizer Michael Beard falls into that category. Michael is an unrepentant philanderer, cheating repeatedly on each of his five former wives. As a physicist, Michael reached his peak – thirty years ago – and had been coasting on fumes ever since, until he runs across the papers of a colleague with plans.
