Of Walking in Ice – Werner Herzog
Anyone who’s lived through a long, punishing winter knows the extent to which it can isolate you.
I just really hate feeling like the intended audience of what seems to be a manifesto to giving up on the idea of fiction.
Ismael and His Sisters – Louise Stern
Stern has brilliantly found a way for her words to tell, and not just show.
Gerard’s prose is too beautiful, too aware of the potential of poetic pacing, for wallowing.
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.