For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] I first fell in love with Katya Apekina’s writing a decade ago, when I read her short story about a girl who loses her best friend to the convent. It was humorous and immersive, yet despite the humor, it elicited a depth of feeling that has stayed with me for many years. I have … Read more
[ad_1] Many articles have been written about our culture’s shrinking attention spans, largely blaming the rise of smartphones for our dwindling attentiveness. So one might reason the short story should be rising in popularity, but there seems to be no such effect. Maybe because short stories often require more from readers. If you miss something … Read more
[ad_1] In 1948, Alba de Céspedes wrote to her friend, the acclaimed writer Natalia Ginzburg, of a specific kind of affliction that could befall the women of their time. They called it a “well,” a “terrible melancholy” that women—still mostly confined to the domestic sphere in the immediate aftermath of WWII, not yet considered equal … Read more
[ad_1] Bryan Washington sets the table in Family Meal with an abundance of ordinary details. His characters are busy with their hands, for instance: they might play with their thumbs, twirl a pen, throw the peace sign, or flick a cherry tomato. Fingers press into orifices and bodily fluids, press cell phone screens, and press … Read more
[ad_1] Growing up in the 1980s, I could not escape Fiddler on the Roof. I sat through professional theatrical productions as well as amateur productions at our local public school—my brother’s girlfriend played Tzeitel—and the private Jewish day school I attended through eighth grade. I watched the movie at home, in school, and at Jewish … Read more
[ad_1] Short stories demand more of the reader (and writer) than a novel, which is why I’ve long preferred the latter. Novels are more forgiving, their expansiveness allows for meandering. But short fiction requires more attention to each line, each carefully crafted detail. A short story isn’t a mini-novel, but the best ones often hint … Read more
[ad_1] Short story author and novelist Elizabeth McCracken has just published a book, The Hero of This Story, in which the main character is Natalie Jacobson McCracken, educator, writer, and former editor-in-chief of Boston University alumni magazine, Bostonia. Elizabeth herself is the narrator of this novel. And, also, the daughter of Natalie. In the novel. … Read more
[ad_1] Is the world of our everyday reality the only world we live in, and the realest one we can apprehend? For McPhail, the protagonist of Jonathan Geltner’s novel Absolute Music, the world of fantasy—“the other world that has no name or too many names,” a “world behind the world”—is not only real but all … Read more
[ad_1] In 1830, President Andrew Jackson, a former Army general with the nickname “Indian Killer,” signed into law one of the most cruel pieces of legislation ever aimed at an Indigenous people, the “Indian Removal Act.” Over sixty thousand Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek were forced to flee their lands, centuries-old dwelling places now … Read more
[ad_1] For as long as sports shape so much of our culture—globally, nationally, and locally—the stories we tell about them will shape us, too. In the United States, football remains the most popular sport, generating billions of dollars in revenue every year. Women and other people of marginalized genders have been systematically shut out of … Read more