Tag Archives: Reading Well

Reading Well: Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Lucifer’s Hammer, first published in 1977, is a result of the fruitful collaboration between Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. This is a page-turner of a sci fi/disaster novel, focusing on the impact of a sizable comet colliding with the Earth. … Continue reading

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Reading Well: 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

This is the second book by Paul Auster to appear here, after In the Country of Last Things. 4 3 2 1 is a much more literary, serious work, and one that explores a concept dear to most writers’ imaginations: … Continue reading

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Reading Graphically: Five Graphic Novels

{After a really nice run of novels, I took a break to dig through a pile of unread graphic novels. More and more, I like having a record of what I read in the entirety, so here are some quick … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi‘s Kintu (2014) has received a lot of positive buzz, even being hailed as the first great Ugandan novel, whatever that means (I don’t mean to dismiss the praise, rather to problematize the terms first, great, and Ugandan). It’s an ambitious novel: … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Tricia Rose on Hip Hop

You may have noticed a lot of content on hip hop here lately … As part of that, I re-read Tricia Rose‘s 1994 book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America and read for the first time … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Nalo Hopkinson‘s Brown Girl in the Ring (1998) has been in my “to be read” pile for a while. I can say I’m really glad I got to it, as it’s a very solid, enjoyable, and well-executed bit of YA … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid‘s debut novel, Exit West (2017) is a most rare creature: a gentle dystopian work. Exit West begins in an unnamed city in the Middle East (the geography can easily be inferred, but nothing terribly specific is confirmed), and … Continue reading

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Reading Well: The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville

One of my favorite authors, China Miéville, published two novellas in the past year or so. I wrote about This Census Taker here; The Last Days of New Paris (2016) is the second. When writing about This Census Taker, I … Continue reading

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Reading Well: American War by Omar El Akkad

Omar El Akkad‘s debut novel, American War (2017), is an arresting, gripping contribution to the landscape of post-apocalyptic fiction. Here, the disaster is largely environmental: all of Florida and most of the Eastern seaboard is underwater, the US economy is … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

George Saunders‘ much anticipated novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) does not disappoint, although it may bewilder. The Lincoln of the title is not Abe, but rather Willie, his son who died at the nadir of his presidency (the Civil … Continue reading

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