by Amy | Jun 21, 2016 | Recommended Reading
This disturbing, richly imagined novel will be hard to read at times not because of its style, which is formally ambitious but never pretentious or deliberately obscure. Rather the book may require frequent breaks because of its darkness, a kind of soul darkness that...
by Amy | Nov 18, 2015 | Recommended Reading
“There’s no justice in it, but there’s no evil in it either.” Judith offers this observation of how the world works, and it perfectly captures the virtues of this brief, wonderful novel about Sepha, an Ethiopian immigrant shopkeeper in Washington D.C, and a white...
by Amy | Sep 23, 2015 | Recommended Reading
Set in 1955 and originally published in 1961, the book was adapted into a movie in 2009. However, its beauty and intelligence can’t be portrayed on film because they arise from the narrative techniques, not the plot or the dialogue. Yates is a master of...
by Amy | Sep 23, 2015 | Recommended Reading
Junior is born hearing the gods, who confide in him about the past and the future, including that the world will be hit by an asteroid when he is 36 and humanity will be annihilated. A reminder to “BE DARING” and write whatever you want, Currie’s novel is...
by Amy | Aug 29, 2015 | Recommended Reading
I often feel unsatisfied by short stories. They are either too shallow (really? that’s all we get about these characters?), too gimmicky, too literary (more about words than real feelings), too easy (really? she realized life’s meaning because of the way the moon...
by Amy | Jul 26, 2015 | Recommended Reading
A woman takes her son to a museum to view her favorite painting. A bomb goes off. The painting and the boy make it out alive. The mother doesn’t. And so begins one of my favorite novels of all time. Still, I feel almost silly recommending it–if you...
