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.
How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published
Penny for your thoughts?
Actually, no, I admit that I’m not interested in what the vast majority of readers think of a particular book. (Except perhaps for the utility of gauging cultural phenomena.)
Black Cake
Me, while reading Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson: “Why won’t Where the Crawdads Sing leave me alone?” This novel reminded me *so much* of Crawdads. Unfortunately (as you may know), I am not a fan of Where the Crawdads Sing. So Black Cake was not for me. But I’m offering up — very genuinely — that if you are a Crawdads fan, I think you’ll like Black Cake. Po-tay-toe/po-tah-toe and all that…if you give a cursory glance at Goodreads or just look at reviews of Black Cake, you’ll see that I’m definitely in the minority with this opinion, and that’s fine.
Swamplandia!
“Domestic fiction,” but make it on a swampy Florida island with a family of alligator wrestlers. Geek Love (Katherine Dunn) x Everything Under (Daisy Johnson) x a teeny tiny smidge of Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens). Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.
Tragic Yet Cozy: On Where the Crawdads Sing and Brené Brown
While perusing the book aisles at Target, one back-cover blurb in particular caught my attention. In case it’s hard to read below: “Mackenzie Cooper took her eyes off the road for just a moment, but the resulting collision changed her life forever. Now she lives in Vermont under the name Maggie Reid, in a small house with her cats and dog, working as a makeup artist at the luxurious local spa.” Let’s forget the first sentence (without forgetting that texting and driving is a BIG NO NO); doesn’t the rest sound kind of…charming? Cozy? Maybe it sounds a little boring and/or slow, but I think we all have days where “real life” seems chaotic and stressful – and maybe enjoying a cup of piping hot tea while curled up in a blanket after returning from our probably-the-same-everyday job seems downright appealing. As I noted on Instagram, this blurb sounds tragic…but also like something out of a J. Crew catalog circa 1995.
