The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty Vendela Vida Take inventory of what distinguishes you from everyone else and you’ll find a lot, like the obvious; your name, your physical description, and the clothes on your back; and esoterica, like experiences, memories, and the people who populate them. In fact, we seldom consider every aspect of identity,…
God Help the Child Toni Morrison Toni Morrison, an author that I gladly read twice, thrice, whatever it takes, that I study and annotate and emulate, came out with her highly anticipated novel, God Help the Child. Even with her illustrious presence as author, literary thought leader, Nobel, Pulitzer, et al., this, her eleventh novel,…
Queen Sugar Natalie Baszile You’ve no doubt been on the giving or receiving end of a comment that borders on “hey, wait-a-minute” and “maybe I should just let that one go.” Me too, and each is equally awkward to the well intentioned. So, what is microaggression and what does it have to do with the…
Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi Reading Lolita in Tehran takes you to another place–really–I mean you are “not in Kansas anymore!” Author, Azar Nafisi envelopes you with the textural content of a post-revolution Tehran and with scenes from her teaching experience there. She teaches fiction at University of Allameh Tabatabei, where her feminist interpretations of literary…
Still Alice Lisa Genova In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, Alice Howland, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember. Alice is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at…
White Oleander Janet Fitch In creative writing workshops the first thing you learn is to “show instead of tell” your story. This applies to character, setting, scene, etc., and author Janet Fitch’s novel, White Oleander, is my go-to book for examples in doing this. She’s written a novel rich with sensory detail and prose so…
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan Most of you have probably read The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. If you haven’t, then you’ve most likely seen the movie adaptation directed by Wayne Wang and produced by Oliver Stone. This was my second time reading the book, and it was ironically prompted by my high…
Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt This was my hour of power summer—meaning I packed my summer full of an hour each day (sometimes more) of powerful 20th century and modern day classics—and I’m proud of myself. I’ve not only read more than a handful of wonderful novels, I’ve viewed their movies or listened to them performed,…
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston I have a reading list a mile long, so the choice of my next book has lately been influenced by what’s been written about the book before I open it. This was the case with Their Eyes Were Watching God. The talk surrounding this book weighed heavily…
Simply Forgotten 