Category Archives: Uncategorized

I think I saw this on some random Best of 2024 list, and was intrigued because I didn’t see it on any others, and the library had the audiobook, so why not? And I really enjoyed it. It’s the story of a young woman who writes a play that is based on a summer thatContinueContinue reading “The Hypocrite, Jo Hamya”

I was fortunate to be able to see this devastating documentary at my local art house theater, because despite winning an academy award, no US distributor wants to pick it up. Which is pretty damning in itself. It’s hard to watch, though it’s a relatively restrained film, clearly working hard to avoid sensationalism. But it’sContinueContinue reading “No Other Land”

Although the novel grabbed me from its opening sentence, it also sort of snuck up on me, in that I suddenly realized, as I was reading, that I cared an awful lot about the characters and what they were going through — they felt very real. This is especially impressive, because first-person narratives are rarelyContinueContinue reading “Fire Exit, Morgan Talty”

This is a really excellent, concise articulation of complex issues regarding our relationship to the history of slavery, past and present, and the challenges of learning from an archive. It would be a great book to give high schoolers, to invite them to engage critically with how slavery has been presented to them, and toContinueContinue reading “Wake, Rebecca Hall”

One of the students in my graphic novels class last semester recommended this to me, and it is awesome. Part portrait of an emerging artist, part road trip adventure story, part depression memoir, with this wonderfully playful punk rock sensibility. Anything can happen. I was moved, I cackled, and I said “woah!” in fairly equalContinueContinue reading “It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, Zoe Thorogood”

I came to this book knowing absolutely nothing about Elaine May, and so I was, I suppose, very open to being persuaded that she is a misunderstood genius. I remember the Far Side comic about Ishtar (I had to ask my dad to explain it to me), and I guess I had uncritically accepted theContinueContinue reading “Miss May Does Not Exist, Carrie Courogen”

I was pleasantly surprised by how much my students enjoyed Adolphe. I thought they’d find it annoying and dull, but for the most part, they revelled in the philosophical melodrama just as I do — and the ones that didn’t seemed to warm to it in class discussion, as we started picking apart the centralContinueContinue reading “Adolphe, Benjamin Constant”

Is Achilles possible with powder and lead? Or the Iliad with the printing press, not to mention the printing machine? Do not the song and the saga and the muse necessarily come to an end with the printer’s bar, hence do not the necessary conditions of epic poetry vanish? But the difficulty lies not inContinueContinue reading “The Perfect Nine, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o”

The rare contemporary novel that is not overhyped — it really is that good. It’s a brilliant and thought-provoking satire, a daring and complex speculative fiction, and also a wonderfully vivid and poignant story. I only distantly remember Huck Finn, so I couldn’t fully appreciate the interplay between the texts, but I relished the smartContinueContinue reading “James, Percival Everett”

This is a terrific book — a lucid, clear discussion of the various reasons people have for not wanting — or wanting! — children, but also, a really powerful account of just how much pressure women face to procreate. Olmo really nails the condescension people direct at anyone who confidently declares that they don’t wantContinueContinue reading “I Don’t Want to be a Mom, Irene Olmo”