In the last couple weeks I have found myself pinned between the return to work and busyness after the relative quiet of the holiday season and a national crisis. I hit a point last week staring at a stack of partially-read books feeling the existential anxiety of not having enough time to read all the … Continue reading Reading During Difficult Times
history
Memory, Family, Trauma: The Deep and The Yellow House
On the podcast Still Processing hosts Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham discuss pop culture and life in America circa now. On a recent episode while discussing Wortham's tour of Thomas Jefferson's plantation Monticello, alongside Bong Joon Ho's film Parasite and the HBO series Watchmen, Morris says, "[Black people,] as a people, we are allergic to … Continue reading Memory, Family, Trauma: The Deep and The Yellow House
Jazz Age + Mayan Mythology = Awesome: Review of Gods of Jade and Shadows
A friend got me a Book of the Month subscription for my birthday and I often struggle to choose between each month's options. July, however, was a no-brainer. As I texted my mom (who also has a subscription), "So obviously my pick is Jazz Age + Mayan mythology." Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia … Continue reading Jazz Age + Mayan Mythology = Awesome: Review of Gods of Jade and Shadows
Unreliable, Round Two
Drinking: Americano. Listening to: Rhiannon Giddens, There is No Other, then Joy Williams, Front Porch. In response to my post on Kazuo Ishiguro's unreliable narrators, my brother asked if Ishiguro's work showcases the impossibility of getting outside your own history to see your self and culture clearly. His entry point is An Artist of the … Continue reading Unreliable, Round Two
History and its Aftershocks: There There by Tommy Orange
In There There Tommy Orange uses individual human vignettes to represent the way that history reverberates into the present. The aftershocks of settler colonialism tear through the lives of indigenous people today, even those living in urban environments far from traditional geographies and ways of life. Orange's novel depicts a specifically Native American experience, yet … Continue reading History and its Aftershocks: There There by Tommy Orange
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 