What We're Reading – April 2019

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they are apart; a girlfriend fades until her girlfriend accidentally falls through her in bed. Most noticeably, in the magnificent story ‘Especially Heinous’, detectives Stabler and Benson from Law & Order: SVU meet Abler and Henson, who always get to the crime scene first but do nothing about the beautiful murdered girls whose deaths fuel most episodes of Law & Order: SVU. Machado’s stories are direct, fast-paced, and funny, yet there’s always a slow-moving malevolence to them, a hidden seriousness, a careful confusion, and a sense of meaning that’s just out of reach for the characters. I can’t wait for her second book – a memoir – to be published later this year. Swithun Cooper, Research and Information Manager   Ordinary People, by Diana Evans Just shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize. Ordinary People is the story of two couples in the second flush of marriage, wondering about where their lives together are going and what compromises they’ll have to make along the way. It’s also a love-letter to London, and to the music of John Legend. I’m enjoying Diana Evans’ lyrical writing style and in depth exploration of her characters inner lives, their frustrations and complex... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "What We're Reading – April 2019"


What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition

Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Finding Space for Art in Dark Times

On April 1st, I sent the final draft of my book, a memoir that revolves around my relationship with my cartoonist grandfather, to my editor. It was also on this day that there were nearly one million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, almost 50,000 deaths, and thousands of overwhelmed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-07 08:48:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How Roxane Gay’s HUNGER Helped Me Write About My Different Ability

A reader on how Roxane Gay's memoir HUNGER helped her overcome a fear of writing about her partial paralysis and disability within Black feminism. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-05-06 10:39:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Five things we learned about Michelle Obama from her Netflix documentary ‘Becoming’

One of them is that if you’re holding out hope for her to save 2020, it’s not going to happen. “Your life isn’t yours anymore,” says Michelle Obama at the outset of Becoming, the new documentary based on her 2018 memoir of the same name. She makes the poignantly self-aware comment as she... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-05-06 06:30:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Intimate portraits piece together the puzzle of Natalie Wood, the person and mother

Natalie Wood's daughter, actress Natasha Gregson Wagner, has written a memoir of life with the legend and produced an HBO documentary about her career. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-05 15:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Natalie Wood’s daughter opens up about the life and death of her famous mom

In her memoir “More Than Love,” Natasha Gregson Wagner delivers a poignant look at a complicated relationship and a tantalizing foray into “What if?” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Abnormalizing of the World: A Conversation On Mental Illness

Two celebrated memoirists of mental illness—Marin Sardy, author of The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia, and Sarah C. Townsend, author of Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis—discuss writing, families, and the struggle to make meaning out of madness. * Sarah Townsend:... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-01 08:47:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hachette Books Ireland wins pathologist's memoir in six-way auction

Hachette Books Ireland has acquired former state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy's memoir in a six-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-01 00:07:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Memoir in Essays: A Reading List

While the personal essay has enjoyed continued popularity, a book-length collection of linked essays, centered on an author’s self or life, is less common than a traditional memoir or novel. A truly successful essay collection can reveal the author processing experiences at many different points... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-29 08:47:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ishmael Beah’s memoir revealed the realities of child soldiers. His fiction shows the humanity of homeless kids.

“Little Family” speaks to the plight of poor people in countries riddled with corruption and violence. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-28 16:54:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


George M. Johnson's New Memoir Reminds Us That ‘All Boys Aren't Blue’

The journalist digs deep into the past in this touching debut book on sexuality, gender identity and the power of family. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-04-28 09:45:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Sheltering: Nina Renata Aron on Desperate Love and Codependency

On this episode of Sheltering, Nina Renata Aron speaks with Maris Kreizman about her new book, Good Morning, Destroyer of Men’s Souls, a memoir of codependency. They talk about the cultural history of love and its entanglement with suffering, particularly for women, and how hard it is to break... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 19:00:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Two Novels, Two Global Catastrophes, Two Decades Apart

My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago. Everything went wrong. First my editor quit after which my publishing house kinda-sorta forgot I existed. Orphaned was the word they used. Since nobody gave a damn, I at least got to choose my own book cover. The photograph I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 08:49:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Literature on Lockdown 3: #CultureConnectsUs

Many lives are radically different right now. But birthdays, anniversaries, and public holidays come and go as before. The pink supermoon would have appeared whether we’d watched it from our windows or outdoors among a crowd of strangers. This week, Earth Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and World... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-04-24 14:34:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Personal Space: Alia Volz’s Writing Helped Her Family Heal

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Sari talks with Alia Volz, the author of reported, historical memoir, Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco — about being raised by colorful hippie parents who ran an illegal pot-brownie... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-23 20:00:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hodder wins record-breaking ex-Special Forces soldier's memoir

Hodder & Stoughton has won at auction the memoir of ex-Special Forces soldier and record-breaking mountaineer Nims Purja MBE. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-23 14:18:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


No-prorogation justice Lady Hale to publish memoir and guide to the law

Judge famous for ruling against Boris Johnson will recount how ‘a little girl from North Yorkshire became the most senior judge in the UK’ Lady Hale, who presided over the momentous decision to rule Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament unlawful, is set to write her memoirs, of how “a little... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-04-23 14:06:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bodley Head signs Lady Hale memoir in two-book deal

The Bodley Head has signed the memoir of former Supreme Court president Lady Hale in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-22 15:33:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘It would be all right’: Novelist Susanna Moore finds solace in a sometimes troubling life story

In the memoir “Miss Aluminum,” the writer and former script reader for Jack Nicholson shares a #MeToo moment, and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this