Category Archives: Culture

Reading Well: Educated by Tara Westover

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Educated (2018) is in the same broad genre as Hillbilly Elegy, a tale of an individual’s struggle to move beyond the context and control of their family of origin. It shares many of the same strengths and weaknesses. On the … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

I’ve written about Ann Leckie‘s science fiction before on Reading Well. Her initial trilogy was a lovely surprise, and a fresh take on the space opera genre, and her follow-up was quite strong, hinting at her staying power as an … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Lot by Bryan Washington

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

I first read a chapter of Lot (2019) in the New Yorker, and was struck by the way it portrayed dimensions of Houston that are neither commonly represented nor part of the emergent picture of Houston as a 21st century … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Serpent Songs – An Anthology of Traditional Craft curated by Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

This is a little bit of a departure, as it marks a return to my reading in and around my academic (and other) interests. Serpents Song (2014) is a compilation of essays by Scarlet Imprint, an esoteric publishing house in … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

The attention around Washington Black (2019) was really the impetus for my reading of Esi Edugyan‘s earlier output (see Half-Blood Blues and The Second Life of Samuel Tyne). Overall, Washington Black is as good as Half-Blood Blues (which I loved) … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkofte Tamirat

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

The Parking Lot Attendant (2019) is Nafkofte Tamirat‘s debut novel. Book-ended by more fantastical sections set on an unnamed island, the majority of the novel is set in Boston, focused on the relationship between a young Ethiopian woman in her … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Cecilia Valdés by Cirilo Villaverde

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Hailed as perhaps the first great Cuba novel, Cecilia Valdés was first published in full 1882, when Cirilo Villaverde (then living in exile in New York City) returned to a story he had begun some forty years prior. There is … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The River by Peter Heller

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Reading Well’s very first entry was Peter Heller‘s The Painter. Four and a half years and many write-ups later, we find Heller’s The River (2019). The novel traces two college friends as they kayak and camp along a river in … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

I thoroughly loved Marlon James‘ A Brief History of Seven Killings, and when Black Leopard Red Wolf (2019) began generating next-Game-of-Thrones type buzz, I became quite intrigued. Luckily, the buzz is both justified and not. Or, more accurately, the buzz … Continue reading →

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Reading Well: The Importance of Being Iceland by Eileen Myles

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Daniel (@MKNN)

A loosely structured collection of essays, The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art (2009) by Eileen Myles offers a small window into a particular moment; specifically the New York art scene of the 1990s and early 2000s. In … Continue reading →

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