Toba Singer
If you have a nose for power, drawing a deep inspirational breath from the approachable majesty of nature, the long view of history, and intriguing vagaries of human expression, can be a tricky business. Nonetheless, ...
Paula Farmer
Q&A/Review by Paula Farmer They say inspiration can come from the most unlikeliest of places. For Lara Prescott, debut novelist of the recently released book, “The Secrets We Kept,” it was a ...
Nancy S. BishopChicago,
Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater is a book you can enjoy in two ways. You can read it from beginning to end, as you would any narrative of fiction or nonfiction. Or you can dip in and ...
Paula Farmer
“On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous,” is a unique story with an even more unique approach and style by poet Ocean Vuong. The novel is written as a letter from a son, at the time in his late 20s, ...
A Dynamic Fictional Rock Band Makes for a Great Summer Read (and movie)
Paula Farmer
For a fun romp through 70s rock music era, wonderfully mixing sex, drugs and rock n roll, look no further than “Daisy Jones and the Six.” Taylor Jenkins Reid (TJR), author of the “Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” uniquely ...
Paula Farmer
Craving alternative literature, an unconventional heroine and a downright weird premise? “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by award winning writer Ottessa Moshfegh is just what the literary doctor prescribes ... And when you read this bodacious new novel, you’ll ...
Paula Farmer
If the title of this gem of a book doesn’t draw you in, the first chapter made up of two sentences will. “My Sister the Serial Killer” by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite is a delicious and disturbing novel that takes ...
Two mothers bound together by their love for one lucky boy.
Paula Farmer
“Lucky Boy,” by Berkeley-based writer Shanthi Sekaran, is two stories in one. Either of which, rich in prose and character development, would be worthy of being its own novel, but how much more satisfying with the merging of divergent accounts. ...
Why did Donald Trump follow Barack Obama into the White House?
Paula Farmer
In “Exceptional America” writer Mugambi Jouet portrays America in a provocative manner during a pivotal time in our political landscape. Although this great political divide didn’t just happen with the 2016 presidential election, it certainly seems to have taken it ...
Paula Farmer
Although it is commendable that Zadie Smith’s latest novel, "Swing Time," is ambitious and somewhat interesting, it seems to fall short of its lofty goals. That being said, there is still no denying that Smith is an exceptional writer whom ...
