for lovers of literature and culture
This book is in my top ten contenders for this year’s best novels. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, souther black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their […]
Before getting too sloshed on Saturday, I want to share the books about American history I am using to educate myself on the country that I am from – and do love. I’ve ordered them based on the time in American history they address. Pre-Colonization 1491 by Charles G. Mann Few books bother to address […]
Another month, another set of books to brighten my life – that’s what I always say. Wherever my 2020 summer is spent, I’ll at least have some fresh pages to keep me company. The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands by Jon Billman These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The […]
A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro […]
I wanted to cover this book last week for Juneteenth but it is a behemoth of information. So, I’ll share it today. Some Americans insist that we’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America — it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as […]
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what […]
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night – dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge – he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q… […]
In early 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a high school senior in Baltimore, Maryland. Syed has maintained his innocence, and Rabia Chaudry, a family friend, has always believed him. By 2013, after almost all appeals had been exhausted, Rabia […]
We’re getting better at recognizing diversity in literature (and other areas of culture) but we still have a long way to go. To steer some attention in the right direction – especially during Pride Month, here are some great reads to include in your TBR. 1. Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer by John […]
I feel it is important to share an update on this book. I posted a review in April of this year and, because I can not edit a published post (or am just not tech savvy enough to figure out how), I want am posting an update as a separate post. However, that update is […]
H O L L Y + O A T E S 