For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] From reading Percy Jackson on middle-school bus rides to finding my all-time favorite novel in the queer best-seller, Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, I’ve always been a fervent fan of Greek myths. Not only do they provide rich, vibrant characters and settings as inspirations, but they also open the door for interpretation, ingenuity, … Read more
[ad_1] In 2016, Fiona Davis made a big splash on the historical fiction scene with her debut novel, The Dollhouse. Set at a landmark building that played an essential role in the history of New York City—in this case, the Barbizon Hotel for Women, a temporary home for women from Grace Kelly to Joan Didion—The … Read more
[ad_1] An avid reader of the short story will soon learn the basic elements that make the form tick: an irresistible opening line, clearly established characters, a central conflict, well-placed details, a satisfying ending. For the writer, these are more of a hypothesis than a formula. Each element can be elusive in its own way, … Read more
[ad_1] Murder mysteries usually include a few key characters: there’s a victim, a killer, and someone who solves the whodunnit. As the novel progresses, the reader works alongside the detective or amateur sleuth to identify the circumstances of the death, the identity of the killer, the motive, and the details of how everything went down. … Read more
[ad_1] In the mid-1950s, my great-uncle was a young Indian physicist in the United States, where he met and married a white Catholic woman from Boston. They were married for over sixty years, with three children and numerous grandchildren, and lived happily until both passed in their late eighties, within two years of each other. … Read more
[ad_1] There are books you read for knowledge, those you read for escape, those you read for enlightenment, those you read to be lost, those you read to be found, and then those you read again, and again. Is it because you want to inhabit that world? Or is it because they force you to … Read more
[ad_1] Julia Fine is back. I wouldn’t say she necessarily went anywhere – she’s steadily published novels since her debut in 2018 – but with her most recent, Maddalena and the Dark, she’s triumphantly returning to your bookshelves with her signature dark feminist speculative fiction. And it’s a masterpiece. Set in 18th century Venice, Maddalena … Read more
[ad_1] Memoirs have sometimes been considered a form of fiction, not as false accounts but by being enriched with the layering of symbols, place, and affable narration. Noreen Masud’s A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma picks up these tools and employs them to full effect, as she takes the reader further … Read more
[ad_1] The pandemic forced everyone indoors, but while some spent their quarantine staring longingly out the window, growing stir crazy and desperate for human contact, others heaved a sigh of relief, secretly grateful for an excuse to shut out our chaotic, complicated society. Author and journalist Kathryn Bromwich clearly sympathizes with both views. In fact, … Read more
[ad_1] A book that will unquestionably stand among the more poignant investigations of Mozart and his genius, Mozart and Motion: His Work and His World in Pieces, by poet and former Harvard visiting fellow Patrick Mackie, is a serious study of the composer’s character and music as it fits within the context of European manners … Read more