For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] It’s hard to sum up Marie NDiaye’s That Time of Year (Un temps de saison, translated from French by Jordan Stump), a short novel that unfolds with a dreamlike logic. Every year Herman, a math teacher from Paris, spends the month of August with his wife Rose and their son in a small country … Read more
[ad_1] Few writers have attempted to connect the art of Britney Spears to the pictorial language of early cave dwellers, or to the religious rituals of fringe Christian groups, but that’s exactly what poet, mystery novelist, and essayist Erica Wright achieved with her book, Snake, one of the latest editions to Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series. … Read more
[ad_1] When asked about her triptych, now translated in full from the French and published by Dorothy Project, Nathalie Léger suggested that her intention was to “try to rescue the words of a woman who couldn’t utter them herself.” Indeed, Léger’s three books give voice to many women: The Italian aristocrat Countess of Castiglione in … Read more
[ad_1] Reading Richard Lindberg’s new book Tales of Forgotten Chicago is like spending the afternoon exploring Chicago’s attic. Nestled in amongst the holiday decorations and old suitcases are people, places, and events that were once the talk of the Windy City, but have since slipped from civic memory. Richard Lindberg, an award-winning author and historian, … Read more
[ad_1] Black Midwesterners live complex lives full of love, creativity, and community; but, that’s not usually the story told in mainstream depictions of Middle America. In 2017, scholars, artists, activists, and students banded together at the University of Minnesota to form the Black Midwest Initiative to promote work that more accurately captured the truth of … Read more
[ad_1] It is said that no two people ever read the same book. Our personal history goes a long way in determining the points of references that resonate with us in a story. This is especially true for my time with Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, since so much of what resonates with me about … Read more
[ad_1] Kirabo presses against the boundaries of tradition in her small village of Nattetta, Uganda. She does not outright reject her people’s customs, but her desire to learn where she comes from—specifically, the history of her mother—drives her to seek help along the edge of what tradition allows to find her own way into womanhood. … Read more
[ad_1] In the opening pages of Evie Wyld’s third novel, The Bass Rock, Viv notes: “Somewhere, out in the darkness, I can hear waves breaking against the Bass Rock though I cannot see it.” It is a literal reminder of the story’s setting — the east coast of Scotland, where the rock rests a mile … Read more
[ad_1] Celebrated Canadian writer Helen Humphreys’s novels almost always find their footing in historical events, often during or around war time, and they seamlessly blend meticulously researched factual detail with the elegantly understated storytelling we’ve come to expect from this author. Humphreys’s latest book, her ninth novel, is no different. Based on the true story … Read more
[ad_1] The first two-thirds of Sisters is filled with allusions to the event that lies at the crux of the story; these sprinkled tidbits of information slowly work to clear the dirt away from the truth of what happened. When you discover the details of that event, you might be shocked, like I was, or … Read more