For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Many of us will never forget those precious moments before lockdown, when we had no idea what was about to hit. We went to the grocery store unmasked, saw friends, went to concerts, went to work. No one yet knows how the story of the pandemic will end, or when. But what if these … Read more
[ad_1] In Persian culture, on the winter solstice, we have a variety of rituals to mark the longest night of the year, one of which is to read poetry. Perhaps it’s no surprise that poetry books are some of my favorites to review, given that cultural DNA. Concurrently, at this time of year in the … Read more
[ad_1] If there’s one thing that was certain about this year, it’s that nothing was certain. And yet, the impulse to make sense of our world and its persistent forms continued. Texts that critically surveyed our world—presented in varied genres and approaches—drew us in to consider—with hope, curiosity, dismay, and startling surprise—all that abounds. From … Read more
[ad_1] What is there to say at the end of a year like this? I admit my own creative faculties are about worn out, along with most of my other ones. But the holidays are a season for reflection and, if we can manage it, hope for what’s ahead. 2021 was maybe not everything we … Read more
[ad_1] It’s been thirty years since the Father’s Day Bank Massacre of 1991, a robbery at the United Bank Tower in Denver which ended in the murders of four bank guards. The prime suspect, a former cop, was acquitted at trial. Anyone familiar with the incident can easily trace the similar threads that Robert Justice … Read more
[ad_1] The first story in any collection sets the tone and expectations, so Cara Blue Adams’ decision to begin her linked collection, You Never Get It Back, with a rather metaphorical story is striking. But Adams isn’t afraid to make bold choices in her fiction, and it’s little wonder this debut collection won this year’s … Read more
[ad_1] Oxford Professor of English Literature Joe Moshenska has done something arguably long overdue in Milton studies. Approaching the Olympian of English letters from a mix of new historical and reader-response positions, Moshenska buries himself deeply into an imagined psyche of the poet and polemicist, propagandist and Latinist, John Milton while also digging down into … Read more
[ad_1] In this latest collection Siri Hustvedt demonstrates her tremendous range as an essayist, with topics ranging from motherhood to reading during a pandemic to misogyny to Jane Austen’s expertise in rhetoric. Even within individual essays in Mothers, Fathers, and Others she jumps from topic to topic, and this diversity presents a dichotomy of sorts. … Read more
[ad_1] On December 9, 2021, we celebrated the 2021 CHIRBy Awards, co-presented by StoryStudio Chicago. Now in its sixth year, the CHIRBy Awards is a celebration of the Chicago literary community that honors the best Chicago-focused fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and short essays. Congratulations to this year’s winners and to our incredible finalists! (You can read … Read more
[ad_1] Tabitha Lasley’s new memoir is built upon a flawed premise. When she explains her plan to travel to Aberdeen and talk with offshore workers to discover “what men are like with no women around,” her editor points out “you’ll be around.” One of the men Lasley interviews responds to the same explanation of the … Read more