Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, More or Less
Geoffrey Dutton reviews this transfixing collection of "fictions" by Luke O’Neil that features animals large and small, perhaps the least interesting of which are Homo sapiens.
My Xanthi
Even the sixty-six-year-old attorney Nick Milonas, the protagonist in Stephanie Cotsirilos’ novella My Xanthi, learns over thirty years of legal practice that justice has its own terrain, and sometimes jurisprudence may not be what it should…
One Curious Doctor – A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality
Hilton Koppe opens a window into the inner world of a family practitioner through a focus on the doctor/patient relationship and deep self-reflections on the complexities and mysteries of attending to the living and the dying.
Yellowface
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang breaks open the pitfalls of a publishing industry in today's cultural economy. It is an unsettling read by a masterful storyteller.
Poverty, By America
POVERTY is one subject Matthew Desmond knows intimately. That he has personally experienced what it is like to grow up poor in the richest country in the world, and received a Pulitzer Prize for writing about it, sets him apart from other…
On the Level
Mark Wagstaff’s new novel, On the Level, crashes the Jason Bourne films into Catcher in the Rye. Non-stop intrigue drives a coming-of-age story in which protagonist Riz Montgomery is both an unforgettably troubled, smart, and passionate…
Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek retells the classic bildungsroman Great Expectations, exchanging Victorian England for 1960s America, arguably one of the most turbulent decades in social history.
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
For those who enjoy the unconventional bildungsroman—or are thirsting for some adventure—read this memoir by Laurie Lee. Originally published in 1969, it recounts the poet's long walk across Spain in the 1930s.
Category Unknown
Category Unknown by Koushik Banerjea is a dense and ambitious book that continues the conversation relaunched by the racial reckoning of 2020, "and reminds us that the conversation isn't the least bit new."
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
"Shattering one-sided, romanticized stories of how this country came to be…" Carol Ann Wilson reviews The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Latest Book Reviews
One Curious Doctor – A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality
Hilton Koppe opens a window into the inner world of a family practitioner through a focus on the doctor/patient relationship and deep self-reflections on the complexities and mysteries of…
Yellowface
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang breaks open the pitfalls of a publishing industry in today's cultural economy. It is an unsettling read by a masterful storyteller.
Poverty, By America
POVERTY is one subject Matthew Desmond knows intimately. That he has personally experienced what it is like to grow up poor in the richest country in the world, and received a Pulitzer Prize…
On the Level
Mark Wagstaff’s new novel, On the Level, crashes the Jason Bourne films into Catcher in the Rye. Non-stop intrigue drives a coming-of-age story in which protagonist Riz Montgomery is both an…
Document 14
Michael McQuillan exhorts Americans to heed Orwell's prophetic work 1984, and through the poem "Document 14," Michael draws attention to the breakdown of society as we know it today.
Essay
Creativity is the Human Condition
Throughout the majority of humanity’s existence, creativity has been regarded as a mystical enigma. Architect and architecture critic Robert Furneaux Jordan asserted that “to comprehend [creativity] fully would be to be God. We can never comprehend God.” Thanks to this prevailing opinion, it wasn’t until the late 1940s that the study of creativity even started down the path toward…
Liu Xiaobo: Tyranny, Freedom of Conscience, and the Incompleteness of the Individual
After Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, I followed the news about him—this dissident public intellectual who had given the Chinese government a major headache. Having read many books about nonviolent thought and action, I sensed that Liu Xiaobo’s life and writing could deepen my understanding further: He believed that words followed by action could change the direction of a country.
1984 – Has Orwell’s World Arrived?
Recently <em>1984</em> by George Orwell popped into my mind, perhaps because I needed to understand what I was witnessing in the first months of 2017, or at least make an attempt to understand.
Essay
Creativity is the Human Condition
Throughout the majority of humanity’s existence, creativity has been regarded as a mystical enigma. Architect and architecture critic Robert Furneaux Jordan asserted that “to comprehend…
Parts of Me: Reflections on Reviewing The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
In this Writer's Journey essay, Carol Ann Wilson shares how, in reading and reviewing The 1619 Project, she also uncovers "parts of a bigger me to be discovered and explored."
The Writer’s Journey
This, Too, Is Literacy
Stephanie Cotsirilos' writers' journey challenges a traditional notion of "literacy" and argues that culture, art, and experience are this, too.
Writing About the Chaqwa
Sandro Piedrahita's return to Peru at age 22, at the height of Shining Path terrorist activity, framed a lifetime of writing about the characters and stories in the Shining Path war.
A Journey of Wonder for One Curious Doctor
Hilton Koppe is a family doctor from a small village on the east coast of Australia, and writing became a path to healing himself and helping others. It is his writers journey.
The Writer’s Journey
This, Too, Is Literacy
Stephanie Cotsirilos' writers' journey challenges a traditional notion of "literacy" and argues that culture, art, and experience are this, too.
Writing About the Chaqwa
Sandro Piedrahita's return to Peru at age 22, at the height of Shining Path terrorist activity, framed a lifetime of writing about the characters and stories in the Shining Path war.
A Journey of Wonder for One Curious Doctor
Hilton Koppe is a family doctor from a small village on the east coast of Australia, and writing became a path to healing himself and helping others. It is his writers journey.
Be Afraid, But Do It Anyway
Cory Essey has been writing since she was young, but kept it to herself. With persistence,—and many stories to tell—she now shares her writing with others.
Interviews
Mark Wagstaff: “it’s the act of writing as yourself that matters”
Mark Wagstaff started writing at a young age, with his first published piece in a UK journal in 1999. Since then he has written numerous novels, and his work has appeared in Garden, The Meadow, The Piltdown Review, The New Guard, and The Write Launch. Mark’s latest novel, On the Level, was published in May 2022.
Carol Ann Wilson: “I continue to write because I must.”
Carol Ann Wilson’s first book, Still Point of the Turning World: The Life of Gia-fu Feng, won Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award in biography, and was a finalist for the 2010 Indie New Generation Award and the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award. Because We Wanted To!: Two women, a dream and a ranch called Singing…
Michael Fertik
Michael Fertik is a published fiction author, poet, produced film writer, and playwright whose writing has won fiction, poetry, and film prizes and includes a New York Times Bestseller. His novella Allotrope was published in The Write Launch and a review of his book Hip Set is available on bookscover2cover. Michael is a graduate of Harvard…
Jeff Schnader
Jeff Schnader was at Columbia University in 1972 where he participated in sit-ins, marches and protests against the Vietnam War. He took part in demonstrations in front of Hamilton Hall where students were beaten by N.Y. Tactical Police in full battle regalia. He graduated with a BA in physics. His short story, The Champion, won first prize…
Longform reviews
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness account of life in the West Bank—in the village of Nabi Saleh and the cities of Hebron and Ramallah.
The New Jim Crow
Why has an academic book with a title that includes this mix—“Jim Crow,” “mass incarceration,” and “colorblindness”— resonated with the public? Clearly, Alexander has hit a nerve. Something profound is happening in American society.
Hip Set
Michael Fertik’s novel Hip Set is not only a thrilling detective story but also a literary inquiry into the sacred and the profane—the secular sandwiched between both. When it comes to human behavior, there is nothing pure about it, just as there is nothing pure about what lies on an arc between good and bad or between heaven and hell.
God Help the Child
The reality and impact of child abuse rests uneasily, front and center, with the interwoven themes of love and transformation. Meticulously crafted, God Help the Child is a journey of souls and hearts, a must-read book.
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of freedom of speech, how words followed by action can change the direction of a country.
Longform reviews
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness…
The New Jim Crow
Why has an academic book with a title that includes this mix—“Jim Crow,” “mass incarceration,” and “colorblindness”— resonated with the public? Clearly, Alexander has hit a nerve. Something…
Hip Set
Michael Fertik’s novel Hip Set is not only a thrilling detective story but also a literary inquiry into the sacred and the profane—the secular sandwiched between both. When it comes to human…
God Help the Child
The reality and impact of child abuse rests uneasily, front and center, with the interwoven themes of love and transformation. Meticulously crafted, God Help the Child is a journey of souls…
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of…
From the Archive
A Singular Woman
For many, Ann Dunham is known as the mother of the 44th U.S. president who happened to be white, and that’s just about all they know about her. In A Singular Woman, Janny Scott retrieves…
War Trash
War Trash isn’t my favorite novel. Ha Jin isn’t my favorite writer. But the novel is important for me because it shows me a part of history I didn’t know.
To The Lighthouse
Ever wondered how a novel would read were it written, without restraint, with the freedom and ferocity of a poem? Read Virginia Woolf's masterpiece.
You don’t want to miss these books
Barbarian Days, Artist of Life, History of Wolves, and The Dry. This week's good reads you don't want to miss.