The rat is the most destructive, the most gluttonous, and the most reproductive animal. It doesn’t kill just when it is hungry, but also, and especially, because it enjoys destruction.
The Physics of Sorrow – Georgi Gospodinov
It is a sincere vision, a sincere request for forgiveness, and yet still something laughable. He means to honor the shit, not demean the religions.
Viper Wine whispers beyond its pages, reappearing in glossy advertisements of Elle and in strange-tasting rouged lips.
Octavia’s Brood – Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown
What if what we’ve been conditioned to see as our weaknesses were in fact our greatest strengths? How do we deal effectively with conflict without contributing to an ongoing cycle of violence?
Solomon’s protagonist does a good job of insulating herself from the outside world. This ensures that not much happens.
Letters offer both an emotional intimacy and an intellectual challenge that can be hard to resist.
Apocalypse Baby – Virginie Despentes
Solving a missing person case is more a matter of waiting for that person to connect back to the grid, even for just a moment.
Alexis takes up notions of language and consciousness on a fundamental level, and what it means to have both or one without the other.
Ongoingness: The End of a Diary – Sarah Manguso
Reading this essay gives me hope that I will outgrow my fear of death.
Midnight in the Century – Victor Serge
Whether or not the arc of the universe bends towards justice, it might be better if we could hold onto the idea that it might. If we try to bend it that way, maybe it could.