READ ALL ABOUT IT
Since 2012, I’ve been writing about books. And the act of reading. And the importance of story and narrative. But, mostly, the underlying theme of all I write is how taking a moment to stop and digest some longform text — instead of scrolling, instead of watching a video, instead of multitasking — can be one of the most grounding things we can do for ourselves. Here’s the one-stop online home for all this writing.
You can read more about me and my work by moseying over here. Want to peruse periodic “essay drops” — excerpts from my work-in-progress essay collection about Homesickness? Here ya go.
Viet Thanh Nguyen: “A Disturbing Book Changed My Life”
“Book banning” is not new, but in the past year or so, challenges to books have popped up in headlines with more frequency. The latest, of course, is a school board in Tennessee removing Maus by Art Spiegelman from classrooms. But let’s see…we also have school district north of Seattle removing To Kill a Mockingbird from its required reading list and a mom in Texas has a fixation with a passing reference to anal sex in Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez.
Hannah Coulter
“Our story is the story of our place…” Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry.
Case in Point: Framingham School Libraries
“Students in Framingham are checking out more books from the library: Here’s why.” This MetroWest Daily News article popped up online yesterday. Framingham borders the town where I live.
Dr. Richard Macksey’s Viral Yet Non-Existent Library
Ok, we all know Instagram loooooves this kind of image, but before you blindly double tap, read on!
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
“The man could…talk about the irony of it all, of people being given power because they were good at shouting against the enslaving things of Europe, and of the same people using the same power for chasing after the same enslaving things.” – Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born
Station Eleven
Station Eleven was published in 2014, so I’m wondering what all the pre-2020 readers thought of this, Emily St. John Mandel’s “pandemic novel.” I can’t stop thinking about it. Not just because of the mentions of contagion, incubation periods, symptoms, and quarantine that are all so eerily familiar. Those phrases will resonate with a post-2020 reader in a different, more concrete way.
‘Planets in My Head, Philosophy’
‘Planets in My Head, Philosophy.’ Yinka Shonibare.
Oh William!
Required reading for all introspective individuals — those who often wonder what things “mean” — and those who love them. Which I hope is everyone at one point or another.
Powell’s and “Downtown”
“How will brick-and-mortar stores fare in a time of continued fear over a deadly, airborne plague? What happens to city life when sidewalks are strewn with the rain-soaked belongings of people who can no longer afford rent?”
The Midnight Library
I’ve just finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig for my Class of 94 book club. (Friends, do you think we need an official name?!) Haig, despite authoring bestsellers many times over (The Midnight Library is a Good Morning America pick), is the recipient of mountains of criticism that he’s too schlocky or self-help-ish.
Elizabeth Holmes and The Great Gatsby
There’s a front-page article about Elizabeth Holmes in today’s New York Times…
Kenny G’s Going Home With Perestroika
Back in December, we watched Listening to Kenny G, a documentary about that ubiquitous saxophone player who everyone loves…or loves to hate.
The Paper Palace and The Nest
Two novels taking place in the Northeast. Stereotypes: intact. Shabby “chic” family compounds, seemingly erudite New Yorkers who jostle to be a part of a scene, breezy yet overly confident in *everything.*
A Calling for Charlie Barnes
Why, in fiction, do women have the corner on: being neurotic, desperately seeking one’s purpose, and/or flirtations with malaise? Carol Shields upended that narrative with Larry’s Party, and Joshua Ferris has done it also with A Calling for Charlie Barnes.
The Snowy Day is Now an Opera
Oh, I love this! The Snowy Day — that ubiquitous 1962 picture book by Ezra Jack Keats — has been transformed into an opera, now at the Houston Grand Opera. The Snowy Day is the most-checked-out book in the history of the New York Public Library, btw.
The Neighbor’s Secret
Here’s why this book — so different than what I normally read — caught my eye. The Neighbor’s Secret by L. Alison Heller was featured as a recent NYT Group Text “book club” pick, and I was taken in because a neighborhood book club acts as the grounding “institution” for the subtly catty yet loud and proud I-just-want-to-raise-good-and-kind-humans crowd of mamas. (🥴) I suspected some blink-or-you’ll-miss-it sarcasm would abound...and I was right.
Brothers on Three
I recently read something, somewhere (#precise) about the book Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation on Montana by journalist Abe Streep. So I checked it out from the library. And then I read it, and now I am recommending it to you.
Mr. Men and Little Miss Turn 50
Raise your hand if you had these books as a child and/or read them to a child in your life. (🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️) Happy 50th Birthday to all the Mr. Men and Little Misses to have graced your bookshelves.
It’s All in the Framing
It’s all in the framing…
Malcolm X’s Former Prison Cell is a Library, Thanks to Reginald Dwayne Betts
I’ve posted about prisons and libraries/books before, including the Mellon Foundation’s “Freedom Libraries” initiative that ties in to this full-circle story.
