Like Tyrion Lannister, I used to be a cynic. I thought it possible there were not truly original ideas left in fiction. I used to think, after so many years of reading like it was my job, there weren’t any books left that would knock me on my ass, keep me awake until 4 a.m. when I had to work in the morning, cause me to be so engrossed that I literally did not hear my friends trying to get my attention. I thought I […]
I Feel Like I’m Taking Crazy Pills
It’s a terrible feeling to hear praise heaped upon a new book, read it yourself and…not get it. Your mind starts playing games with itself: Everyone else liked this book, what’s wrong with you? Do you just not understand it? Is that it, you idiot? You focus on the book a little harder, maybe if you squint at the freaking book, all of this praise will make sense. But still…it’s just not there for you. That was my experience with Kelly Link’s collection of short […]
Tell me what you read, and I’ll tell you who you are
We read to know we’re not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone. It was a crappy night, and I just wanted a book that would make me happy. I wanted something pleasant that I could knock out in one sitting, curled up in my bed and drinking tea. I thought The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry would be fine enough. I was wrong. It was exactly what I needed. A.J. Fikry is the […]
I finished this book, exhaled, and flipped it over to the beginning again.
Reading the late Paul Kalanithi’s spectacular memoir When Breath Becomes Air, a meditation about love, literature and science in the face of a terminal cancer diagnosis was a strange experience “The good news is that I’ve already outlived two Brontes, Keats and Stephen Crane,” Kalanithi wrote to a friend. “The bad news is that I haven’t written anything.” He was trying to be funny, using the kind of dark humor you get from people facing the unfaceable. But it also revealed Kalanithi’s tremendous ambition. He […]
Sisters are doing it for themselves
Despite all those engagement pictures you’re inundated with on Facebook are telling you, marriage rates in America are slowing down. According to the U.S. Census, the proportion of married adults is dropping and for the first time, single women outnumber their married counterparts. Author Rebecca Traister argues that these unmarried women are a revolutionary force, changing our definitions of love and family, and pushing the political conversation to the left. “Women…perhaps especially those who have lived untethered from the energy-sucking and identity-sapping institution of marriage […]
The worst road trip since Crossroads
We all know the story. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl based on no discernible criteria, girl isn’t interested, boy knocks girl out, stuffs her in a suitcase and holds her captive on a deranged road trip. Teo Alevar lives in Rio de Janiero with his disabled mother and her dog. A med student, his best and only friend is a cadaver named Gertrude. He’s not interested in other people, and doesn’t think he’s capable of love until he meets Clarice. And thus begins […]
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