On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Howard Belsey is a white Englishman married to a Black American woman. He teaches art history at a fancy pants liberal arts college in Massachusetts and has been readying his Rembrandt book for publication for years with little progress. He and his wife, Kiki, have three children. Jerome, a recent … [Read more]
The Boy From Clearwater: Book Two by Yu Pei-Yun, Jian-Xin Zhou and Lin King
About a month or so ago I read The Boy From Clearwater: Book One by Yu Pei-Yun, Jian-Xin Zhou and Lin King (Translator). At the time I didn’t think I would go onto book two, The Boy From Clearwater: Book Two, but something said I should and located an interlibrary loan copy from my local … [Read more]
When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey
I found When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era (2023) by Donovan X. Ramsey on NPR's Favorite Books last year. I needed another audiobook for my commute and decided to give it a try. Ramsey grew up in the 80's and 90's during the worst of the crack cocaine epidemic. In this … [Read more]
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
The Man in the High Castle is a speculative narrative – what would the world be like if the allied forces lost WWII? What would a life under a Nazi Germany and Japanese regime look like? The story loosely revolves around Frank, a pawn show owner is San Fran who trades in authentic American … [Read more]
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Adichie is coming out with a new novel next March, and I'm excited to read it (and attend a reading). Before we do that, let's revisit one of my original five star reviews, a book that I frequently cite as one of my favorites, and definitely home of one of my favorite quotes which I recite quite … [Read more]
A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon
I picked this up because of that viral trope about how all straight men think about ancient Rome constantly. And it tickled me that one of the foremost experts on the Roman Empire is a woman, and this book has a pink cover. Emma Southon delivers a snarky history of Roman murder that’s as engaging … [Read more]
