Monthly Archives: May 2022

The kernel of this book is that the author taught fiction writing in a prison in the UK for three years and one of her students, after being released, came to a celebration of the program and murdered two of the teachers (the Fishmongers’ Hall attack). I wanted to read it, in part,* because IContinueContinue reading “Aftermath, Preti Taneja”

This is a quick, fun read. What makes it work is the voice, and the very delicate balance of both irony — you’re invited to identify with the character but also distanced from her — and outrageousness (how seriously are we meant to take all this?). Which is to say, there’s room, I think, forContinueContinue reading “Vladimir, Julia May Jonas”

You really can’t go wrong with a book of poetry published by Haymarket Books. They’re just all phenomenal, I’m serious. These are sharp, funny, beautiful. Danez Smith has an excellent introduction where he does a far better job than I can, explaining what makes these poems so brilliant, and so vital. As he notes, there’sContinueContinue reading “Black Queer Hoe, Britteney Black Rose Kapri”

I told myself before that the brief little blurbs that I write when I share my book thoughts on fb were fine for a blog post, but then each blog post ended up becoming longer and more involved, and so I quickly started feeling like those blurbs weren’t good enough, which if course led toContinueContinue reading “Dreams of a Common Language, Adrienne Rich”

This is a real stunner. Yes, I know, surprise, Nobel-Prize-winning author writes terrific books, but still: this one grabbed me and held me in its thrall. I didn’t read it quickly — I’ve actually been working my way through it over the last three months — but I nonetheless read it rapaciously, with absolute absorption.ContinueContinue reading “Admiring Silence, Abdulrazak Gurnah”