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The week of Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the busiest flying periods of the year in the United States. Here are some flight-themed reading options to help with any delays you encounter.

—The Good Sentences Team
1. Essay: How the Private Jet Became the Singular Fetish Object of the Modern Billionaire by William D. Cohan (2019, Vanity Fair)

Favorite Sentence: "Jets are deeply tied to their owners' status, their ego, their very being."

—Picked by Charlie Balaan (Flying Home to Pittsburgh, Class of 2022)


2. Poetry: Vacation by Rita Dove (1994)

Favorite Sentence: "Even the lone executive/ who has wandered this far into summer/ with his lasered itinerary, briefcase/ knocking his knees—even he/ has worked for the pleasure of bearing/ no more than a scrap of himself/ into this hall."

—Picked by Corrine Fombelle (Flying Home to Central Illinois, Class of 2022)


3. Fiction: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

Favorite Sentence: "All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions."

—Picked by Tiffany Chung-Arzeno (Flying Home to Hong Kong, Class of 2022)
 
Michigan Sentences: Here's an article about the history of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan and its contributions to a wide range of flight-related research. Syllabus Sentences: Here's a short chapter I give students who are interested in learning how the Rule of Three can be used not just within a single sentence but between multiple sentences.
Book Recommendations
Notes on Nuance:
"Too"
 
Note how the word "too" can be placed at the beginning of a word, almost like a prefix, to communicate excess. 

"By night, beneath a charming but too-dim sconce at a too-small table, she staged various actions."
—Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections (2001)

"The rather too inclusive speech brought down a torrent of vituperation from other quarters upon fair Tess’s unlucky head."
—Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
 
Additional Resources
                                                                       
Online Courses

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting
Good with Words: Writing and Editing
Books   

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting
Good with Words: Writing and Editing  
Notes on Nuance                                                    
The Syntax of Sports: Class 1 
The Syntax of Sports: Class 2
Poetry and Planes
Here's a list of poems about flight and flying. It was curated by Oliver Tearle, who teaches English literature at Loughborough University. 
You can find archived editions as well as a sign-up sheet to subscribe here.

Copyright © Patrick Barry, All rights reserved.


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barrypj@umich.edu

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