Tag Archives: Reading Well

Reading Well: Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

I really loved Sing, Unburied, Sing and when I realized it was the third book of a loose trilogy (connected by geography, not by characters as far as I know), I got the other two books into my queue. Where the … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Trickster Books

{I’m prepping for another class, and these are more a product of wanting to keep recording most everything I read here. These are very worthwhile books, each with a significant blindspot that, while important to consider, also does not reduce … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Two Short Story Collections

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

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

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

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

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

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: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

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

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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