Category Archives: Culture

Reading Well: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Barbara Kingsolver‘s Prodigal Summer (2000) is a lovely book. But it’s Kingsolver: we expect no less. There are three adjacent plot lines throughout the book: each chapter, save one, is titled Predators, Old Chestnuts, or Moth Love, and while the characters are either related or … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Binti (2015) is the second science fiction book by Nnedi Okorafor to hit Reading Well (The Book of Phoenix was the first; Lagoon will be the third sometime over the next few months). Book may be an overstatement: Binti is a novella at most, a slim … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

With Gardens of the Moon (1999), Steven Erikson kicks off a ten novel series, called The Malazan Book of the Fallen. The book introduces a complex world, rife with magic and political intrigue, and poised on the edge of a … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

J.M. Coetzee is one of the great writers of the second half of the twentieth century, so the raw skill and sophistication of Disgrace (1999) are no surprise. The novel–like much of Coetzee’s writing–can be read as a struggle to make … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Kai Ashante Wilson‘s The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (2015) is a book in grave danger of being overly and overtly pigeon-holed, which makes it hard to write about. On the one hand, it’s easy to focus on it’s Afrocentric focus, especially … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Dystopian novels are relatively common; literary dystopian novels, not so much. In the Country of Last Things (1987) by Paul Auster certainly qualifies. A single, long letter, In the Country of Last Things tells the story a woman who flees … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Billed as a “space opera,” Iain M. Banks‘ Consider Phlebas (1987) is quite a bit more than that. It certainly checks the requisite boxes–an intergalactic war involving almost incomprehensibly powerful technology (and explanations for the same that sure sound scientific), … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

The Steel Remains (2010) by Richard K. Morgan is very much a 21st century book, but for all the commentary about how it turns the genre on its head, it is actually a very traditional fantasy novel–especially as an initial … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Uproot by Jace Clayton

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Jace Clayton, better known to some as DJ Rupture, used to host a radio show called Mudd Up! on WFMU in New York. Clayton makes my musical taste look downright provincial, and Mudd Up! introduced me to pockets of world … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Nnedi Okorafor is an important figure in science fiction. She is working to create not just science fiction by an African writer, but an African science fiction. That’s a huge, complex, messy, inaccurate, and unfair statement, and has far more … Continue reading →

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