For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] “The proper function of a critic,” wrote D. H. Lawrence in 1923, “is to save the tale from the artist who created it.” Punish the writer, he was saying, but don’t destroy the art. When Lawrence published those words in Studies in Classical American Literature, he wasn’t talking specifically about himself, but the experience … Read more
[ad_1] Reading Megan Stielstra is like having a cool older sister telling you it’ll be okay. She doesn’t sugarcoat the truth; she acknowledges things are hard. That honesty makes you trust her. Plus, she’s smart and makes you laugh—it’s no wonder we walk away from reading her books feeling better. My first introduction to Stielstra’s … Read more
[ad_1] Welcome to another installment of a collaboration between the Chicago Review of Books and the Your Favorite Book podcast. Malavika Praseed, frequent CHIRB contributor and podcast host, seeks to talk to readers and writers about the books that light a fire inside them. What’s your favorite book and why? This week’s guest is Said … Read more
[ad_1] Anita Kopacz’s debut novel Shallow Waters is a vibrant reimagining of Yemaya, an Orisha (deity) from the Yoruba religion, and her place in American history. The story of Yemaya was passed down through oral tradition, brought to the “New World” by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century. In Shallow Waters, Yemaya exists … Read more
[ad_1] It’s been several years since Calling a Wolf a Wolf shot into the literary consciousness, and since its tremendous success, the award-winning poet Kaveh Akbar has also made a measurable impact as an educator, the current Poetry Editor of The Nation, and a remarkably generous poetry supporter. His sophomore collection, Pilgrim Bell, enters into … Read more
[ad_1] In her most recent book The President and the Frog, Carolina De Robertis helps us to see the world as strange as it is, again. We are taken into the home of the former president of an unnamed Latin American country, where he has invited journalists to discuss his legacy and democracy’s present hard … Read more
[ad_1] The drought is getting worse. Rice farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are resorting to selling their water as an economic alternative to poor crop yields. Wildfires tear through the brush, destroying homes and displacing countless human and non-human residents. Mile-high fire clouds—what scientists call “pyrocumulonimbus”—gather in the sky and hurtle bolts of lightning … Read more
[ad_1] Brian Evenson’s new collection of short stories, The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, is set in a not-so-distant future where the environment has unsurprisingly degraded even further than what we face now, as well as in fantasy worlds entirely unlike our own. No matter the setting, there is an ever-present sense that things are … Read more
[ad_1] Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove returns after twelve years with an exquisite new poetry collection, Playlist for the Apocalypse. Her poems magnify the marginalized individual, simultaneously illuminating national and global failed attempts at democracy. As always, her words are raw, poignant, and accessible. The opening segment, “After Egypt,” came … Read more
[ad_1] With a Megan Abbott book, you have a good idea what you’re going to get. Ever since 2012’s Dare Me, Abbott has carved out a niche writing about women and girls in high-pressure environments, pushing back against restrictions and limitations until tempers boil over. Dare Me and You Will Know Me rendered high school … Read more