Author Archives: Kasia Bartoszynska

“This is a treatise on trans ambivalence,” proclaims a sentence in the Foreword. As the author explains, part of the work of transphobia is to consistently undermine or outright deny the reality of trans people, requiring that they reply with absolute certainty — but what in human life do we know with absolute certainty?? (Nothing,ContinueContinue reading “None of the Above, Travis Alabanza”

I had lofty ambitions, like two months ago, of writing a proper essay on these two novels, which are not exactly the same book but they sure are close. Both are novels about a couple in their 20s living in a city in another country — in The Anthropologists, the city and their countries ofContinueContinue reading “Perfection and The Anthropologists”

I knew almost nothing about this movie except that it was Charli xcx in Warsaw, which is where I’m from, so obviously I had to go. And right from the jump I was pleasantly surprised to find that the credits were in Polish, as was the voice-over narration, and all of the initial dialogue. ItContinueContinue reading “Erupcja”

People have been recommending this to me for awhile (for years I guess, jeeze) and I finally picked it up. I was a little skeptical — the story of a woman stuck in a strange time loop, reliving a single day, didn’t seem very appealing (and there are 7 volumes of this?!). But I wasContinueContinue reading “On the Calculation of Volume, vl 1, Solvej Balle, tr. Barbara Haveland”

I read this weeks ago, but it has stayed with me because it feels like a desperate attempt to bear witness; to register what is happening amid rapid changes and the apparently utter indifference of the rest of the world. Evans documented the conditions in refugee camps in Northern France in 2015 and 2016 (theyContinueContinue reading “Threads: From the Refugee Crisis, Kate Evans”

I guess it was almost two months ago now that we did this absolutely wonderful Zoom bookclub with some IC alumni, reading Sense and Sensibility together. For me it was an especially fantastic experience, because I was leading it with my dear colleague Hugh Egan, and we would meet up beforehand to have our ownContinueContinue reading “Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen and Emma Thompson”

My friend Deidre recommended this to me, and it really is extraordinary. Chanel Miller writes so beautifully, and weaves a narrative so skillfully, it’s truly a marvel. She tells the story of her experiences as a defendant in a sexual assault trial — a process that spanned over a year, two if you count theContinueContinue reading “Know My Name, Chanel Miller”

This isn’t a book or movie review, but I just wrote it out as a facebook post and felt like I dunno, I needed to put it somewhere else too. I happened to be looking at the Reed magazine online and found, to my utter dismay, an obituary for one of my favorite professors. IContinueContinue reading “In memoriam, Roger Porter”

I read this on the train yesterday with great pleasure. An understated story about a 75 year old Nigerian woman, a retired English professor, living in the Bay Area and confronting the encroaching limits of her independence. It’s unexpectedly panoramic, weaving in brief asides from neighbors, friends, passersby that give you glimpses of their variousContinueContinue reading “Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, Sarah Ladipo Manyika”

I’m weirdly obsessed with Sheila Heti, because I think she does some really unique and fascinating things with voice. I can’t even really assess if I like her books (I think I mostly don’t?) because I’m just so mesmerized by the total strangeness of them — how it’s impossible to tell who is speaking, andContinueContinue reading “Pure Colour, Sheila Heti”