For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] For five years in a row the Chicago Review of Books has presented annual awards to the best works of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and essay or short-story by Chicago-based writers. Last year we announced the first ever Adam Morgan Literary Citizen Award. Named for the site’s founding editor, the Morgan award is given to … Read more
[ad_1] “Acountryisclosingitsborder… (This is not today.)” “Pandemic/persecution/(The country has no conscience)… (This is not today).” In the first pages of M.I. Devine’s debut collection of experimental essays, Warhol’s Mother’s Pantry: Art, America, and the Mom in Pop, he calls back to the political turmoil of the early 1920s, when a pandemic raged and the U.S. … Read more
[ad_1] Regret and its effects are no strangers to books. Countless literary works, both fictional and not, explore our innate longing to return to the past, to experience a moment once again, and perhaps find some solace for our aching souls. Yet only time travel fiction allows its characters an opportunity to truly return to … Read more
[ad_1] Adrienne Rich continues to be widely taught in classrooms and read for her unparalleled ability to master language, syntax, and substance. Through her writing, the iconic feminist poet and essayist explored questions of identity, privilege, and the complex ways in which oppressions intertwine that still resonate today. Author Hilary Holladay has crafted the first … Read more
[ad_1] C.J. Cooke’s new novel, The Nesting, ticks all the boxes of a satisfying thriller, but it’s more than just a safe bet for a good read on a dark and stormy night. Cooke’s thought-provoking depiction of the sinister side of motherhood and Mother Nature adds depth to the book’s fast-paced, gripping plot and amplifies … Read more
[ad_1] “You can be a mother and a poet.” So writes Kate Baer in “Moon Song,” part of her first poetry collection, What Kind of Woman. She effortlessly spans parenting, friendship, love, and how women perceive and are perceived, with stunning imagery. Poems like “Female Candidate” hit home, upending the current moment to examine it. … Read more
[ad_1] Danielle Evans’s second story collection, The Office Of Historical Corrections, draws on the current zeitgeist with provocative narratives examining race, female friendship, and privilege. The collection concludes with a novella by the same name dealing with both our present obsession with truth and the historical legacy of racism. Women carry this collection, and the … Read more
[ad_1] Michael Riedel writes his sequel to Razzle Dazzle kicking off where he ended with his well-received history of Broadway. Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway carries on in a similar way as this first book. Both books mention, and seem to be influenced by, William Goldman’s The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969). … Read more
[ad_1] Soylent, the nutrient-packed, colorless meal replacement drink, was introduced to the American public in 2014 after a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign proved people just don’t want to waste precious time and energy eating anymore. When Rob Rhinehart, Soylent’s inventor, was working on a technology startup in San Francisco, he started to see buying, cooking … Read more
[ad_1] Whenever I go for a run and cue up a playlist (lately a compendium of tracks I’ve called “What the Fuck Is Happening” that includes pandemic-appropriate songs like “You Make Me Sick” by Satan’s Rats and “So Sick” by Ne-Yo), I experience something that I like to call “dancing in my head.” I’m running, … Read more