Modern fiction feels whittled down, simplified in comparison to the wandering conversations, philosophical musings and side characters in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.
1984 is often ranked as one of the most quintessential books in the dystopian genre. But while I was reading it, I couldn’t look past the main character’s attitude toward women. Eventually, I found myself questioning whether the attitude belonged to the character, or to the author himself.
If you’re like me, you’re starting to daydream about warmer days filled with less ice and more sunshine. Spring always makes me of new beginnings. Little green plants peeking out of city gardens, birds singing, and people emerging from their homes to enjoy the longer daylight hours. This spring I want to read books about starting fresh. Here are a few suggestions if you’re looking for the same.
The Great Believers is staggering in its level of detail, in the number of characters you fall in love with, in the beauty of the prose, and in the scope of the tragedy it covers. Rebecca Makkai paints a picture of the 1980s AIDS epidemic in Chicago that is devastating and poignant, but also hopeful.
At its core, All the Birds in the Sky is a love story, but not just in the traditional romantic sense. It’s a love story between two people, a love letter to the city of San Francisco, a love letter to nature, even a love letter to technology. The characters explore existential questions about whether we have a bigger duty to our fellow humans or to the earth we live on. This is one of my favorite books, and I hope you enjoy it too!
My first time reading Jane Austen far exceeded expectations! What a funny, delightful story filled with believable quirky characters.
The Great Believers is staggering in its level of detail, in the number of characters you fall in love with, in the beauty of the prose, and in the scope of the tragedy it covers. Rebecca Makkai paints a picture of the 1980s AIDS epidemic in Chicago that is devastating and poignant, but also hopeful.
Books about passing make up an important and unique genre in American literature and film, and Bennett’s novel undoubtedly is a new essential read in this genre. The story follows Desiree and Stella, identical twins who grow up in a small town in Louisiana. At age 16, they run away from home, and Stella makes a choice that alters her life forever.
If there ever was a book for our times, Oryx and Crake is it. This novel is a story about a pandemic that is even more shocking than the one we are living through. Yet, in spite of the dystopian plot, Oryx and Crake gave me hope.
My first time reading Jane Austen far exceeded expectations! What a funny, delightful story filled with believable quirky characters.