For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Some readers may think of Oksana Lutsyshyna’s award-winning novel Ivan and Phoebe, translated from the Ukrainian by Nina Murray, as “supplementary reading” to better understand Russia’s current war against Ukraine. And it could serve in that capacity: the rich contextual detail Lutsyshyna provides creates a fascinating relief map of Ukraine’s complex past, and the … Read more
[ad_1] In Nicholas Binge’s Ascension, a mountain of nearly unimaginable size appears suddenly in the middle of the ocean, its sides plunging steeply into the sea, its mysterious peak looming unattainably in the clouds, nearly 10,000 feet higher than Mount Everest. The mountain stuns physicist Harold Tunmore, not just because of its sudden materialization, but … Read more
[ad_1] In her debut novel, Things We Found When the Water Went Down, Tegan Nia Swanson asks a lot of her readers. The initial pages of the book offer a list of characters and a map, and footnotes accompany the reader throughout, but it is nevertheless easy to become disoriented in this layered, complex story … Read more
[ad_1] In the 1970s, Love Canal, an otherwise peaceful neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, was afflicted by environmental oddities resembling Biblical plagues. Thick, viscous scum roiled on the surface of local streams. Rocks in the local playground would occasionally burst into flames. A noxious stench invaded basements and kitchens, seeped into clothes, and burned … Read more
[ad_1] Hannah Gadsby understands the value of context. In Nanette, her startling stand-up comedy show that was made into a Netflix special in 2018, she memorably provides additional context for Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. She recounts how she was once confronted by an audience member who, in the course of criticizing antidepressants, argued that if Van … Read more
[ad_1] Rodrigo García lost his mother, Mercedes Barcha Pardo, in August of 2020. Like so many others, he was kept from her bedside by COVID-19 travel restrictions. In A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir, he writes: “Unable to travel, I saw her alive for the last time on the cracked screen of … Read more
[ad_1] In her memoir Leaving Breezy Street, Brenda Myers-Powell propels readers through the story of her remarkable life with raw energy and gripping, charismatic storytelling. A survivor of molestation, prostitution, abuse, and addiction, Myers-Powell offers a deeply honest, deeply moving look at the years of physical and emotional violence that she suffered, and the mechanisms … Read more
[ad_1] At ten years old, Brian Broome tried to take lessons from his friend Corey on how to be “cooler”: “…Black boys had to show through our behavior that we were undeniably, incontrovertibly the most male. The toughest. We sat on either end of his bed and I got lost in his pretty brown eyes … Read more
[ad_1] Early North American colonial history often gets short shrift in the standard American history classroom. Once the pilgrims have celebrated their first Thanksgiving, the syllabus typically vaults forward in search of the excitement and glamour of 1776. While the era between these two events may not make the marquee of American history, Nicole Eustace … Read more
[ad_1] In Cass Sunstein’s book This is Not Normal, he observes that “…the success of President Trump has made many people fear that a president, with his current powers, might have the ability to undermine the foundations of a democratic order, above all by altering the understanding of what counts as normal.” Um, yes. I … Read more