The Case for Teaching Depressing Books High school English teacher Sahar Mustafah writes that her students often ask when they’re going to read happy books. Young people, quite naturally, equate “happy” with a safe, uneventful existence. Genocide, sexual assault, poverty, racism, climate change—it’s hard to find any reason to be excited about reading these subjects […]
It’s time for another Classics Club Spin! Here’s how it works: I post a numbered list of 20 titles from my Classics Club list. On Sunday, April 19 the Classics Club curators will post a number from 1 through 20. I then have to read whatever title has that number on my list by June
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Introduction I came upon Adam O’Fallon Price’s article The Subjective Mood, in which he laments the lack of moral depth in current fiction, back in February. I included it in a literary-links round-up, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it because I find a lot of moral depth in most of the fiction I read.
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I hope that you are all staying healthy and finding solace in activities that comfort you. Book sales surge as self-isolating readers stock up on ‘bucket list’ novels From the U.K. comes news that “Book sales have leapt across the country as readers find they have extra time on their hands, with bookshops reporting a
Here’s my husband’s photo of last night’s super moon over Tacoma, WA, USA. We often can’t see the full moon here because of cloud cover, but the last couple of nights have been super clear for the super moon. Here’s a photo I took with my phone to give you an idea of how big
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Hendricks, Greer & Sarah Pekkanen. An Anonymous GirlSt. Martin’s Press, 2018ISBN 978-1-250-13373-1 Recommended Jessica Farris, age 28, works as a freelance make-up specialist, lugging her product cases all over Manhattan and barely earning enough to get by. On a typical Friday night Jessica overhears Taylor, one of her college-student clients, tell her roommate that she
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Penguin Classics and Others Work to Diversify Offerings From the Canon “Across the industry, publishers are releasing titles by authors who were previously marginalized or entirely lost to history.” The critical and commercial success of these titles is a result of a combination of factors: initiative on the part of writers’ families or estates; changing
I recently came across the article “Kristin Hannah Recommends 5 Books to Keep You Company During Isolation.” Since I’ve been having trouble writing much of anything at all, I decided to use the format of this post as a template for my own recommendations. Here are the categories, Kristin Hannah’s recommendations, and my own suggestions.
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The Curious Creation of Anna Kavan Although I’ve heard of Anna Kavan—mostly through occasional references to her works—I know nothing about her. But I’ll have to change that, after reading this profile in the New Yorker. She examined the nature of identity, both in her writing and in her personal life. Not long after being
Related Posts: Life in an Independent Bookstore Near Seattle Some of the Less Obvious Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic Book-Related News for Self-Isolation and Social Distancing More Arts-Related Pandemic News All of my recent posts have been lists of COVID-19—related links. I just kept collecting these links, almost obsessively. Now that we’re approaching the end
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