If I could have Roxane Gay follow me around for the rest of my life contextualizing my experiences as processed through her personal brain filter, I would have no more wishes for my genie, even if he insisted that I had two wishes left. I would tell him to fuck off, I’m all set: I’ve got Roxane Gay. I’m going to re-read this one. Probably twice or thrice. She is my new best friend. She is the smartest person I know (I don’t know her). […]
It Sucks She Has To Explain This, But She Does It So Well
I was lucky enough to learn about Phoebe Robinson when a friend recommended I listen to 2 Dope Queens, the comedy podcast she hosts with Jessica Williams (of The Daily Show fame). She is a stand-up comedian and writer, and You Can’t Touch My Hair is her first book. It’s a collection of essays that take on topics as varied as black hair, guilty pleasures, and advice for her niece. I write in my books, and I found myself underlining a lot in this one. I […]
You make the art that only you can make. You tell the stories only you can tell.
Neil Gaiman just gets it, man. This collection of miscellaneous non-fiction writings consists of various speeches, articles, essays, and introductions, and what it turns out to be is sort of a hodge-podge portrait of Gaiman as a writer and reader. Not every essay was of interest to me, and I did skip some of them that covered books I’d never read (and didn’t want spoiled . . . also, the one about Dogsbody Neil tells the reader to skip straight up and then come back […]
Brilliant Storytelling
I cannot believe I failed to pre-order this book. I follow Ms. Wilson on Twitter and knew the book was coming out this week. I’ve been very excited to read it because I know she is a great storyteller and writer. I figured it would be insightful and entertaining, and even though my to-be-read pile is absurd at the moment, I bought this yesterday and started reading it immediately. It did not disappoint. Ms. Wilson is an extraordinarily talented storyteller. In this collection of essays, […]
The Quiet Heartbreak of Unreached Potential
In May 2012, Marina Keegan had a lot to look forward to. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale, had a play being produced at the New York International Fringe Festival, and lined up a job at The New Yorker. Just before she graduated, Marina wrote an essay titled “The Opposite of Loneliness.” Five days after receiving her diploma, Marina died in a car crash. She was 22 years old. “We’re so young. We’re so young.” Marina wrote in her final essay. “We’re twenty-two years […]
Full disclosure: I actually thought this book was about owls and diabetes. I also had no idea who David Sedaris was: a naturalist, I assumed. His name was familiar to me and I really like owls, plus the book was free. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure the only thing I actually knew about him is he was on Aisha Tyler’s fabulous podcast Girl on Guy once, but the interview has not stuck in my head in any way more memorable than, “He’s pretty funny. And he […]
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