I have been known to bristle at an author (or other creator) expanding their created world. I first felt this reaction when I learned that William Faulkner filled out the rest of the characters' biographies after the end of events in The Sound and the Fury. (They were, as you might expect, universally miserable.) It … Continue reading To Expand the World or to Not Expand the World, That is the Question: On Nghi Vo’s ‘The Chosen and the Beautiful’ Among Others
The Great Gatsby
Notions, January 2021 Edition
This is the time of year I realize just how much dark time we still have to go. Work is busy. The outside is dark and dreary. And I mostly want to just curl up with a book. Alas. While we wait for spring, here are some of the fun, interesting, and/or gorgeous things I've … Continue reading Notions, January 2021 Edition
On the Re-Reading Life and Vivian Gornick’s ‘Unfinished Business’
Looking over my reading list this past year I saw stellar book after stellar book. Bam, bam, bam, nearly all excellent reads. And then I got to the past few weeks and realized that things lately have been merely fine—good but not great, decent but not deepening. And then I picked up Vivian Gornick's Unfinished … Continue reading On the Re-Reading Life and Vivian Gornick’s ‘Unfinished Business’
America’s City, or I Heart New York
I came up relatively poor, which means I traveled very little. For family vacations we went camping in the nearby canyon or took roadtrips to visit relatives in exotic locations such as Sacramento or Anaheim. I first traveled via airplane as an undergraduate, tagging along on a school trip with friends visiting San Francisco. At … Continue reading America’s City, or I Heart New York
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 