For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] It’s fitting that the narrator of Ruth Madievsky’s debut novel, All-Night Pharmacy, is never given a name. Despite the first-person participant point of view, she seems to have sprung fully formed from the functions of those around her, namely her sister, Debbie. Her own traits, her own personhood, are obliterated when Debbie is around. … Read more
[ad_1] I’d like to ask Kevin Maloney if he’s familiar with “Return of the Grievous Angel,” the Gram Parsons’ song with themes of wandering, life on the road, and a kind of longing that leads to an inevitable return. I kept hearing this song in my head as I read Maloney’s novel The Red-Headed Pilgrim, … Read more
[ad_1] My neighborhood in Fort Worth, TX is undergoing rapid gentrification. It has gone from an industrial area where residents had to dodge tractor trailers to what’s now a commercial, entertainment district. The small, limited, public spaces have been made Instagrammable, and the neighborhood renamed to an easy hashtag. Where early residents lived in old, … Read more
[ad_1] Kiki de Montparnasse. Such a great name. It’s an exciting name, an erotic name, a name that evokes a certain place and a certain time. But it’s not a name that we immediately recognize, although her image is. I asked my small circle of friends and associates—most of whom have more than a passing … Read more
[ad_1] In a Barbara Smaller cartoon, first published in The New Yorker in 1999, two media executives sit across from each other. They look to be in the sort of conversation that might determine the direction of new programming or an ad campaign. One executive says to the other, “It’s been done, but I don’t … Read more
[ad_1] As a cisgender white male, I am least interested in what cisgender white males have to say. Too often, too many suck the oxygen out of discourse leaving no space for others to speak and reducing everything down to another version of mansplaining. Their work seems to be in service of shaping the world … Read more
[ad_1] When regarding works of art, Kandinsky asked the viewer, listener, reader to consider “[…] whether the work has enabled you to ‘walk about’ into a hitherto unknown world.” Before this request was an imperative: “Stop thinking!” This can be read as a rejection of searching for a deeper meaning, or engaging in excessive interpretation … Read more
[ad_1] Editor’s Note: This book and this review were written before the insurrection against the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021 1. Two events in recent history: In April and May of 2020, a series of demonstrations took place inside and around the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan. Demonstrators gathered in protest of recent … Read more
[ad_1] In his new book, This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s “Kid A” and the Beginning of the 21st Century, a story centered on the Radiohead album Kid A, music critic Steven Hyden—without meaning to—asks the “Where were you when…” question regarding the album’s release: “I know I bought Kid A the day it came out, as … Read more
[ad_1] In a 2017 interview with The Brooklyn Rail, Sarah Gerard was asked a question about what she was reading. “I’m interested right now in reading a lot about love. Love, desire, sex. […] I’m thinking a lot about sex and love from a political standpoint too,” she said. “I’m also looking very skeptically at … Read more