This is the type of writing that gives me what I think of as “complete cellular-level stillness.” You know that feeling when you’re listening to, reading, or watching something completely extraordinary, and your entire body goes still? Maybe you have scalp tingles or you’re covered in goosebumps, but you are entirely focused on not missing a thing because it’s freaking incredible? That’s my experience with this book of essays. I’ve interviewed Dr. Cottom (Podcast Episode … Continue reading Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom →
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the most influential writers of science fiction and fantasy in the world. She’s been publishing since the 1960s and is still going strong. I grew up on Le Guin. My mom read the Earthsea books to me when I was a kid recovering from surgery in the hospital, and after that same surgery I tried to read The Eye of the Heron , The Dispossessed , and The Left Hand … Continue reading Words Are My Matter by Ursula K. Le Guin →
You’ll Grow Out of It is a series of autobiographical essays by professional funny person Jessi Klein. I picked it up on pub day entirely because of things I’d been hearing about it, celebrities I love talking about it on Twitter, and several great reviews from sources I trust (i.e. the A.V. Club and Sloane Crosley at the New York Times). For a time, Klein was a writer on Saturday Night Live and she’s now a … Continue reading You’ll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein →
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is an anthology that combines prose writing, illustrations, and short comics by many different authors. All of the entries explore the ways in which women who identify as geeks experience romance. There are countless variations on this theme – some people write about their first crush, some about a divorce, some about how fan fiction shaped the way they talk about sexuality. The general theme is romance but the … Continue reading The Secret Loves of Geek Girls ed. by Hope Nicholson →
Voracious is a lovely book that can be read in many ways – as a cookbook, as a memoir, as a coming of age story, as a love letter to New York City, and as literary criticism. Above all, it’s a book about how books and food become part of our emotional life. Cara Nicoletti was an English Lit major in college and went on to be a chef, a butcher, and the writer of … Continue reading Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Books by Cara Nicoletti →
