The Anguish of Thought — Évelyne Grossman
Anguish is, after all, the core watchword of modernism, beloved of avant-garde artists, writers, and thinkers since the salons of the mid-nineteenth century.
RIDDANCE, it turns out, is not simply (or even primarily) a gothic fantasy about communing with the dead but an allegory about writing.
When our tiny tour group was called to join our guide, instead of flashy ghostbuster jumpsuit or LED-studded skeleton or goth employee just dressed regular, we got Steve.
Modern Science and Anarchy – Peter Kropotkin
MODERN SCIENCE AND ANARCHY deserves to be read, if only to briefly inhabit the intoxication of Kropotkin’s hope.
NEVADA DAYS doesn’t match up to plot-driven works of fiction — despite its sub-plot of sexual assault and murder — because that’s not the kind of fiction Atxaga has written.
Toddler Hunting and Other Stories – Taeko Kono
Though Kono is absorbed with domestic life, she pushes the conventional limits of realism by exposing the ways in which the rules of domesticity are artificial, provisional, or self-imposed.
Rather than some romantic communion of artist, art, and place, this memoir is a record of all the noise that overwhelms the blank-page silence, in which we find artist, art, and place at odds.
Death and Other Holidays – Marci Vogel
One of many finely crafted aspects of this novella is its hazy yet undeniable locatedness. While not emblematic of Los Angeles, DEATH AND OTHER HOLIDAYS embeds itself deeply in Los Angeles throughout.
Sexographies – Gabriela Wiener
The collection conveys a profound honesty about female sexuality that goes beyond a simple defense of sexual freedom to expose the complexities of desire, the body, and psychology.
Ethical Probe on Mixed Martial Arts Enthusiasts in the USA – Andy Martrich
More than a sport, MMA is a hyperbolic spectacle that echoes and validates its viewers’ faith in old-fashioned notions of truth and realism.