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 ...
Paula Farmer
There has probably never been a more appropriate title for a book than “Just Mercy,” by Bryan Stevenson. This book is about striving for justice against unsurmountable odds. This book is about sweet mercy that some need and deserve more ...
Paula Farmer
"Exit West," by Mohsin Hamid is a creative, complex, deeply felt saga that reads almost fable-like. Set in an unnamed Middle Eastern City on the brink of civil war, readers are introduced to the main characters of Nadia ...
Toba Singer
Dissemble: (per the OED) Conceal or disguise one's true feelings or beliefs.
Dissemble: A word I have never understood. Why not just say “lie”?
In “Jerzy,” PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novelist Jerome Charyn bites off more than most of us ...
Nancy S. Bishop
Nelson Algren Biography Explores the Writer’s Struggles with Life and Craft
Nelson Algren was a star in Chicago’s bright literary firmament, but his light dimmed in the years after he won the 1950 National Book Award for ...
An Appetite for Food, Drink and Restaurant Realities
Paula Farmer
Stephanie Dandler’s debut novel, "Sweetbitter," is a raw and gutsy romp through a year in the life of a young woman’s launch into a restaurant career in the food capital of the world. The 22-year-old heroine, Tess, has gladly ...
Paula Farmer
At the young age of 36, Dr. Paul Kalanithi did more in two years than some do in a lifetime. His motivation was life AND death. In 2013 when Dr. Paul Kalanithi was close to wrapping up a stellar ...
To Be a Young, Black Man in the Era of Obama (and Trayvon Martin)
Paula Farmer
Paula Farmer
July 2016
With hardly a week going by in between news of another black man being killed by a white man or police officers, there could not be a more timely and topical book then this. ...
Literature's equivalent to the cult section at the video store
Andrew Osborne
It was sometime after the man in the mushroom cap sang a song about earwigs yet well before Werner Herzog's nihilistic re-imagining of "The Wizard of Oz" that I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore.
Instead, I was sequestered ...
Toba Singer
Susan Neiman offers a materialist analysis of the contemporary catechism of child rearing and the glorification of childhood. Bring a child into the world, and you have given birth not just to a human ...
