Book Report

I read this novella on a whim after seeing in mentioned in a thread about Hugo drama. It’s a quick, straight forward, breezy read. I genuinely admire Ulibarri’s political optimism on display, and I found the character, plot, and style enjoyable. Read more…

Updike is a nuanced and linguistically competent writer, and the plot is fast and engaging. As a character study it is engrossing. Read more…

What an audacious book this is. Read more…

In Belonging, Krug digs deep into an identity of collective inherited guilt. Read more…

This book was recommended effusively by an author I admire, Lulu Miller. So it went on my list. Broder is an exquisite writer, and I love a first-person narrative that goes deep, so it’s no surprise I loved this. Read more…

I was engrossed by the first act of Stolen, seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl. Read more…

I love getting these glimpses into Coppola’s visual inspiration. The book is full of them. Read more…

Somehow I got this far in life without ever reading Dracula. Read more…

Karim-Cooper, an accomplished Shakespeare scholar and woman of color, does the hard work, turning to the text, and the history of racial language… Read more…

I adore this kind of book. It’s a sort of renaissance work of affection and obsession. Read more…

This book is almost 100% constructed from excerpts from first person interviews with a wide cast of characters from the industry and era, all meticulously edited… Read more…

This book was not for me. Read more…

I grew up in Indiana to mostly liberal parents in the heart of conservative America, and in the thick of the AIDS crisis. Which is to say Madonna was, for the most part, a villain in the cultural mind of my surroundings. Read more…

I spotted this book on a promo table at a book store in San Francisco and I suppose I was taken in by the striking cover, and because you know, like, I’m a father of girls. Read more…

Over dinner, Isabel told me they re-read this because their students are reading it in Literature class. Isabel said it was so much better than they remembered. Read more…

My brother and I read this book together during a family trip when we were maybe 10 and 11. I had completely forgotten about it… Read more…

It has everything! Read more…

What an engrossing and possessing book this is. Read more…

This collection of sci-fi short stories by women authors is, unsurprisingly, a mixed bag, but also a lot of fun. Read more…

I re-read this book yesterday as a sort of healing balm as I grieve… Read more…

What a delight this book is. It’s deeply engrossing, perfectly light for a non-scientist with genuine interest, and wonderfully structured. Read more…

It’s a beautifully written book about that friction between the world we sometimes imagine we want. Read more…

This book is so well constructed. Even though you probably know many of the events, Grush unfolds them for us beautifully. Read more…

Schiff does such a good job illuminating the source material and putting what has been said about Cleopatra into historical and cultural context. Read more…

The steady drumbeat of violence described in Indigenous Continent, put into terminology that is not so tainted by white supremacy, made all this very bare. Read more…

Thanks an awful lot to you too, Margaret. Read more…

I decided to read this because it is the basis of one of my favorite films, Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. And because the cover is gorgeous. But it is also a very timely read. Read more…

I devoured this book today from beginning to end. Powerful, intimate, redemptive, and beautifully illustrated. It brought me to tears. Read more…

I can see why this book resonated. It is very good. I love a first-person narrative. I love an epistolary novel. And I love a distinctive voice. This book is all three… Read more…

To me this book is the opposite of hopeless… Read more…

A little over-long and short on insight, but still a worthy read… Read more…

A little over-long and short on insight, but still a worthy read… Read more…

This is more than a Biography (although it is a good one of those). It is an engrossing investigation into the state of and process of modern science… Read more…

This autobiography is co-authored by Gina Smith, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m sure Smith did major work to make this into a cohesive story. But she also left Wozniak’s distinctive voice entirely intact… Read more…

So much better than I expected… Read more…

This is a beautifully imagined, wholly original love letter to Lagos, Nigeria in the form of a science fiction alien invasion story… Read more…

I have an affinity for stories like this. Before there was some huge multi-billion dollar industry operated out of boardrooms with massive glitzy ad campaigns and fortune 500 branding deals, there were a few wild, passionate, brilliant people in a dingy room somewhere… Read more…