Nonfiction Archive
The Undressing by Li-Young Lee
Lee is clearly wary of the limits of language. Perhaps this is why his language in this collection is so syncretic, so wildly alive and allusive with references to anime, science fiction, the Hebrew Bible, Gnosticism, Shakespeare, and hip hop.
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Feel Free is an excellent place to find one of the best contemporary writers writing at her best.
A Gift from Darkness by Patience Ibrahim and Andrea C. Hoffman
A Gift from Darkness: How I Escaped with my Daughter from Boko Haram is a powerful and moving tale of female resilience. Patience Ibrahim, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram twice, tells her survival tale to Andrea C. Hoffman, journalist and author of The Girl Who Beat ISIS.
Review: MEMORY LANDS by Christine M. DeLucia and OUR BELOVED KIN by Lisa Brooks
We might consider that, in twenty-first century America, we continue to live in the shadows of King Philip’s War. Both DeLucia and Brooks have given us important new frameworks through which to explore the wider nature of those shadows.
Review: NOMADLAND by Jessica Bruder
Through folk meet-ups and underground websites, Amazon seasonal packing facilities and middle American ghost towns, Bruder’s book peers into the heart of the modern American housing crisis and lifts the curtain on the forgotten multitudes hiding in plain sight.
Review: TALES OF TWO AMERICAS edited by John Freeman
Tale of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation Edited by John Freeman Penguin; Sept 2017 252 pp; $17 Buy: paperback | eBook Reviewed by Anne Kniggendorf In his collection of 36 essays, poems, and stories entitled Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided
Review: HUNGER, A MEMOIR OF (MY) BODY by Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay is America’s favorite "bad feminist." She is often read as a black feminist, but her Haitian roots rarely get more than a passing mention. And yet, Haiti is the unseen backdrop to Gay’s memoir Hunger: a fierce, black, female, fat narrative.
Must Reads for Fall
The weather is turning, and books—as always—will bring us steadily through to the end of the year. Here are our choices for this fall's best reads.
Review: WHY BUDDHISM IS TRUE: THE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF MEDITATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT by Robert Wright
He’s not even arguing that Buddhism is true.
Review: SURPASSING CERTAINTY: WHAT MY TWENTIES TAUGHT ME by Janet Mock
A constant theme of the book is Mock’s profound isolation, reinforced by her “stealth” status, “wearing that cloak of normalcy” where she is seen as a cisgender woman.