For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Parasite may have won a ground-breaking four Academy Awards (for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Language Film), but the impact of this movie will extend far beyond awards night. From its stunning visuals, to its layered commentary on the invisible divisions that you can almost… sniff-sniff… smell between us, … Read more
[ad_1] Remaining insulated from the real world is no longer an easy choice for Wallace in Brandon Taylor’s novel, Real Life. After discovering his grad school biochem research had been contaminated by a jealous and racist peer, setting him back weeks if not months, he leaves the lab to meet with friends only to spend … Read more
[ad_1] Need to escape from the dire state of the world? Try reading one of these transporting short stories, all published in 2019 or 2020. Crossing the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction, these stories offer escapes into worlds even stranger than ours. (Full transparency: I’m including all four stories I commissioned for … Read more
[ad_1] This February, Read it Forward editors Abbe, Jess, and Emma plowed through a novel (and former Reese pick) that everyone’s been talking about: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. A striking social satire about race and privilege that shines a searing light on the inexorability of whiteness and upward mobility, it’s a wonderfully layered … Read more
[ad_1] When asked about the best ways to prepare one’s children for the “coming chaos,” the protagonist of Jenny Offill’s new novel Weather responds, “You can teach them to sew, to farm, to build.” Then, more importantly, she adds, “Techniques for calming a fearful mind might be the most useful though.” As the title suggests, … Read more
[ad_1] Nothing ups the ante on a mystery or thriller quite like it being true. Knowing that someone really did these terrible things and (hopefully) someone else solved the case, found the perpetrator, and figured out why they did it, adds extra chills to the experience. True crime is a gripping genre with a dedicated … Read more
[ad_1] Graff has been keeping a big secret from his closest friends, the captain and crew of a pirate-hunting starship. He expected to die before they ever discovered what he really is. But he’s not dead, and now he has to explain. I am cut nearly in half by the accident. The surviving … Read more
[ad_1] Books, perhaps more so than other media, have the remarkable ability to stay timeless after generations on end. The author’s dilemma is finding balance between establishing setting through concrete detail without allowing the material to become dated. But what happens when the author throws this idea out the window? Jeet Thayil’s Low could only … Read more
[ad_1] Happy Mardi Gras! And you’re welcome. Because we’re sharing a sneak peek of the MUCH anticipated sequel to Renée Ahdieh’s The Beautiful! The Damned is coming THIS JUNE and not a moment too soon. Ready for this excerpt? Ready to see what comes after THAT ENDING? Yes? Okay. Prepare yourself. First there is nothing. Only silence. … Read more
[ad_1] While legendary actor and activist Laura Dern (who’s having a “Dernaissance” at the moment) may have taken home her second Academy Award this year for her portrayal of a stereotypical yet wholly otherworldly divorce attorney in Marriage Story (now streaming on Netflix), the movie isn’t all kale salads and Halloween costumes. Scarlett Johansson and … Read more