Purchase a copy for yourself here! Jenny Offill’s second novel, Department of Speculation, reads more like a diary than a novel. Composed of terse paragraphs and eccentric observations woven together to form a coherent narrative, this novel follows a writer/teacher who falls in love and get married in her twenties. After a painful miscarriage, she… Continue reading Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Tag: books
The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In a recent interview with NPR, Dr. Michele Harper discussed her impetus for becoming an emergency room doctor: “…Because of the pain I saw and felt in my home, it was also important for me to be of service and help to other people so that they could find… Continue reading The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns. This moment is the absent mother’s: the boy, the empty house, the deserted yard, the unheard cry … It will lie at her very core, for the rest of her life”,… Continue reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Nine Shiny Objects by Brian Castleberry
Purchase a copy for yourself here! On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a string of nine unidentified flying objects in the Mount Rainier area, a story that would spark national news coverage and mark the first modern UFO sighting post-WWII. The story catalyzed an international obsession with UFOs and extraterrestrial life,… Continue reading Nine Shiny Objects by Brian Castleberry
Lot by Bryan Washington
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Houston is molting. The city sheds all over the concrete”, writes Bryan Washington in his award-winning story collection, Lot, an exploration of one of America’s most fascinating metropolises and the characters that inhabit it. Around half of the stories in the collection are told from the perspective of Nicolás,… Continue reading Lot by Bryan Washington
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Hood feminism is lived feminism. It’s the women who do the work, who are present in communities and making sure that their kids have school and at least somewhat accessible medical care. It’s great to want to be a CEO or to be president, but you should also probably… Continue reading Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Purchase a copy for yourself here! With his recent debut, Real Life, Brandon Taylor has reinvigorated the concept of the campus novel. The novel’s protagonist is Wallace, a grad student biochemistry researcher at a midwestern university, one which has not admitted a black student into its lab in over three decades. Wallace, a gay black… Continue reading Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In her 2003 memoir, Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton recalls the moment that Bill Clinton proposed marriage to her: “I knew that when I decided to marry, I wanted it to be for life. … I thought of him as a force of nature and wondered whether I’d be… Continue reading Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Nonfiction Edit
Diclaimer: This list is not any sort of authoritative list of the best nonfiction reads of all time. This is simply a collection of ten diverse reads, which offer excellent reportage, compelling prose, and unique approaches to educating readers. On this list you’ll find some excellent antiracist reads, urgent #MeToo stories, fascinating books that explore… Continue reading The Nonfiction Edit
The Brown Album by Porochista Khakpour
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In her most recent essay collection, The Brown Album, Porochista Khakpour begins with her family’s riches to rags stories. Having immigrated to California after the 1979 revolution, her parents, who worked at the prestigious Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, left their comfortable life in Tehran for relative poverty in… Continue reading The Brown Album by Porochista Khakpour