For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Love is a dangerous and frustrating emotion for Mariah Stovall’s main characters in her novel, I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both. Khaki Oliver is a socially awkward Black woman who was born punk. She mostly interacts with the world through the lens of music as evidenced by the book’s title, which … Read more
[ad_1] I think Shayla Lawson is a literary genius, so their new book, How to Live Free in a Dangerous World, was among my top most anticipated 2024 titles. Shayla is not only whip-smart—agonizingly careful with each word and comma, so every sentence they write packs a punch—but they’re also masterful at making connections. They … Read more
[ad_1] Reworking, adaptation, reconsideration. There is always an appeal to mining the Ancient Greek poets for a timely retelling. Most recently—with the likes of Madeleine Miller’s Circe and Pat Barker’s two Trojan novels, The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy—there has been an interest in shifting the balance by gifting the often … Read more
[ad_1] In its long and popular history with writing, the term “craft” and its associates—“toolbox,” “workshop,” “mechanics”—have always looked somewhat incongruous. Rather than bring the poet to mind, they evoke the technician or the engineer, paring back emotional intimacy in favor of writing’s nuts and bolts. Think of Kurt Vonnegut charting plot on a blackboard … Read more
[ad_1] “Generous reading” is an approach to ideas that was in vogue among my friends in college. In brief, its precepts demand that new and even disagreeable arguments be afforded as much credence as possible. One could be critical only after deeply entertaining the worldview presented, suspending disbelief beyond the confines of fiction. But when … Read more
[ad_1] Courtney Maum’s new memoir, The Year of the Horses, uses her story of falling in love with horses and playing polo as an adult to reckon with how to exist not only as a mother, but also as a human. Maum, a writer propelled by deadlines and busyness, wrestles with the all-consuming question of … Read more
[ad_1] Ever since I finished reading Emily Maloney’s essay collection Cost of Living, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the first time that I noticed the financial burden of living and dying. I believe for me it was when I was fairly young, shortly after my uncle passed away by suicide and I … Read more
[ad_1] In Patricia Lockwood’s debut novel, No One is Talking About This, there is a line after the birth of her sister’s child which highlights the balancing act attempted in this book: “It was a marvel how cleanly and completely this lifted her out of the stream of regular life.” Lockwood’s exquisite writing aims to … Read more