Here Comes a Book Rant
July 16, 2019
A review/rant about Bianca Marais’ novel If You Want to Make God Laugh, an unintentionally offensive story about three women in post-apartheid South Africa. … More Here Comes a Book Rant
Category: Book Review
My Deep Dive into Dancer from the Dance
July 12, 2019
I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now because I keep turning it over and over in my head, and to be brutally honest, I’m trying to decide how much I actually like this book. Published in 1978, Dancer From the Dance is a perfect encapsulation of the gay subculture that thrived in … More My Deep Dive into Dancer from the Dance
Surviving in Changing Times: Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver
March 5, 2019
In Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered, a family in crisis confronts the new realities of a changing world. … More Surviving in Changing Times: Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver
Young Love at the End of the World: The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker
March 4, 2019
It’s the end of the world in Karen Thompson Walker’s The Age of Miracles, but you wouldn’t know it from what her characters are worried about. … More Young Love at the End of the World: The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker
Motherhood, Charity, and Africa’s AIDS Orphans: There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene
February 19, 2019
A review of a nonfiction account of one woman’s quest to save children orphaned by or suffering from AIDS in Ethiopia. … More Motherhood, Charity, and Africa’s AIDS Orphans: There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene
A Handbook for Helping the Dying: The Gifts of the Body, by Rebecca Brown
February 19, 2019
A humane, sharply observed set of interlocked stories about a home care worker taking care of AIDS patients in the 1990s. … More A Handbook for Helping the Dying: The Gifts of the Body, by Rebecca Brown
Get Creeped out with Mouthful of Birds, by Samanta Schweblin
February 13, 2019
A review of Samanta Schweblin’s newly translated surreal short story collection, Mouthful of Birds. … More Get Creeped out with Mouthful of Birds, by Samanta Schweblin
Women on the Verge: Adèle, by Leila Slimani and The Terrible, by Yrsa Daley-Ward
February 4, 2019
Reviews of two books about women in the middle of a crisis, both very worth your time. … More Women on the Verge: Adèle, by Leila Slimani and The Terrible, by Yrsa Daley-Ward
When You Just Can’t Get Behind a Book Everyone Else Loves: Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
January 29, 2019
Reviews of Esi Edugyan’s Man Booker finalists Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black–one of which I love and one which I struggled to get through. … More When You Just Can’t Get Behind a Book Everyone Else Loves: Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
Go Through All the Feels with Michelle Obama’s Becoming
January 26, 2019
Michelle Obama’s Becoming turns out to be exactly the book we need to get through the current political climate. … More Go Through All the Feels with Michelle Obama’s Becoming
Supposedly Fun 