Category Archives: Culture

Reading Well: Two Short Story Collections

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

I’ve written about both Jeff Vandermeer (The Southern Reach trilogy) and Sarah Hall (The Wolf Border, The Electric Michelangelo, and Daughters of the North) before. Vandermeer sits clearly in a post-Lovecraft tradition, somewhere between horror and the merely psychologically disturbing, a style … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

JD Vance‘s 2016 mid-life memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis generated quite a bit of buzz when published, and it’s pretty easy to see why, as Vance’s account of his upbringing in rural poverty is … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

The sequel to Sleeping Giants , Waking Gods (2017) continues Sylvain Neuvel‘s story of human encounters with radically advanced technology. It follows the same structure: interviews and journal entries and transcribed conversations; and, again surprisingly to me, somehow it still … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost by Joan Morgan

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

I meant to read When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (1999) along with Tricia Rose’s work. But the book was back-ordered, so I was unable to dive into Joan Morgan‘s manifesto until more recently. This … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) is a pleasant diversion wrapped around a very intriguing idea: the protagonist, a thirty year old Russian aristocrat, is, in 1922, sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life. His house happens … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Provenance by Ann Leckie

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Set in the same universe as The Ancillary Trilogy, Ann Leckie‘s Provenance (2017) is, essentially, a police procedural. Leckie’s ability to create both characters you care about and cultural settings deep enough to hold your attention shines through, but your … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Binti: Home & Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

These two books complete the trilogy started with Binti, and easily make Nnedi Okorafor the most reviewed writer here on Reading Well. Certainly, I am a fan, but that’s also a product of Okorafor’s tendency to write in what are … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Published in 2000 and translated into English in 2006, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter is at most a novella, coming in at under 100 not-full-paperback size pages. The fact that César Aira has been successful publishing works … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Published in 2017, Jesmyn Ward‘s Sing, Unburied, Sing is actually the 3rd entry in a loose trilogy, but it is the first I have read. It is magnificent. The plot is disarmingly simple: two children, deeply dependent on each other; … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Published in 2016, Sylvain Neuvel‘s Sleeping Giants is the first book in a trilogy. It’s a delightful, surprising, quick read, exploring what might happen if we discovered a giant robot powered by massively advanced technology whose pieces are scattered across … Continue reading →

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