To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most celebrated American novels of all time. How did it become the Great American Novel? And is it problematic? … More Why Is To Kill a Mockingbird America’s Favorite Book? A Pulitzer Prize Deep Dive
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
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
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
A comparison of James Baldwin’s novel If Beale Street Could Talk and the film adaptation from Barry Jenkins, covering the differences, similarities, and which is better. … More Book vs. Movie: If Beale Street Could Talk
Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage has been anointed by Oprah and featured on bestseller lists and critic’s picks. But it’s not without flaws. … More The Pros and Cons of An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
The Two Dope Queens podcast was one of my favorite things, so I was devastated when I heard that it was coming to an end. The good news is that Phoebe Robinson, one half of those Dope Queens, released her second book just in time to console me. Like its predecessor (You Can’t Touch My Hair and … More Achieve Catharsis with Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay, by Phoebe Robinson
For many years The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe’s satirical novel about race and money in New York City, has been called the definitive novel of the 1980s. It was a smash hit upon publication in 1987 and earned Wolfe, already known for his nonfiction books The Right Stuff and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, raves. But … More Is The Bonfire of the Vanities a Garbage Novel?
Racial tensions erupt in the wake of a police shooting, and the only witness must decide whether or not to go public. Can she make a difference, or will she only end up making herself and her family a target for more violence? … More Race in America: The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas: Book Review
“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story … More Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi: Book Review
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