The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin Fiction, 2017 But there are none so frightened, or so strange in their fear, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them—even if, … Continue reading Book Report — The Stone Sky; Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Independent People by Halldór Laxness (translated from the Icelandic by J.A. Thompson) Fiction, 1934 and 1935 There are few things that fill the soul of man with greater disappointment than to wake up when everyone else is asleep, especially if it … Continue reading Book Report — Independent People; Ten Steps to Nanette
Transit by Rachel Cusk Fiction, 2016 Loneliness, she said, is when nothing will stick to you, when nothing will thrive around you, when start to think that you kill things just by being there. Yet when she looked at her … Continue reading Book Report — Transit; This Woman’s Work
As more schools target ‘Maus,’ Art Spiegelman’s fears are deepening by Greg Sargent Art Spiegelman has been here before, so when he intimates that the right-wingers’ frothing eagerness to ban books is at a higher level than before, and showing … Continue reading Outside Reading — Fahrenheit 450 and Rising edition
Sharp by Michelle Dean Nonfiction, 2018 The opening line of The Journalist and the Murderer, which originally appeared in three parts in the The New Yorker in 1989, is famous. “Any journalist who is not too stupid of too full … Continue reading Book Report — Sharp; Uncanny Valley
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith Nonfiction, 2021 David knows that some visitors to Monticello arrive with an understanding of history that is not only misguided but also harmful. He has a difficult time disentangling this from the … Continue reading Book Report — How the Word Is Passed; It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
Just Us by Charles Homans For this article, Charles Homans starts with the questionable press tour undertaken by a juror who served in a grand jury case examining one slice of the monumentally criminality of the amoral dimwit who placed … Continue reading Outside Reading — Peers edition
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff Nonfiction, 2021 Marginalization was a federal policy in both Canada and the United States for 150 years. The purpose has always been … Continue reading Book Report — We Had a Little Real Estate Problem; Absurdistan
When Public Money Becomes Private by Lyz Lenz Writing in her own newsletter, Men Yell at Me, Lyz Lenz details how the longstanding right-wing crusade to divert public education funds towards charter schools has other private institutions does irreparable damage … Continue reading Outside Reading — Be Cruel to Your School
Gaining Accolades While Covering War Victims in Burkina Faso by Clair MacDougall In the regular Saturday Profile section of The New York Times, Clair MacDougall spotlight another journalist. Mariam Ouédraogo has earned several awards, including recently one the most prestigious, … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Truth Is Coming edition
Coffee for Two 