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"


C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels talks ‘The Rise of Skywalker,’ his new memoir and four decades of Star Wars

The only actor to appear in every film of the Skywalker saga reflects on his experience in the book “I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
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A Memoir That Serves as a Playbook for Your 20s

Audacious Brit Dolly Alderton explores a raucous decade of living and loving in her debut, 'Everything I Know About Love.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Indigenous Writers Deserve More Credit for Being Hilarious

Tiffany Midge is the author of several books including the recent memoir Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, a collection of prose that blends humor with social commentary and meditations on love and loss. Her poetry collection The Woman Who Married a Bear won Kenyon Review’s Earthworks Prize... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Read Harder: A Memoir By Someone From a Religious Tradition Not Your Own

From stories about commitment to faith to those about leaving the faith, learn more about the traditions in these religious memoirs for Read Harder 2020. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-19 11:33:46 UTC ]
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You Won’t Find Mark Morris at the Multiplex

“I’m not that interested in movies,” says the dancer and choreographer, whose new memoir is “Out Loud.” “I like poetry.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Judge Rules Edward Snowden Must Surrender Earnings From Memoir to U.S. Government

Snowden's recently published memoir violated the terms of his employment contract. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-12-18 11:37:41 UTC ]
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Ali Wong’s Memoir Isn’t Just About Asian Americans—It’s Written To and For Us

When I read the reviews of Ali Wong’s memoir Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice For Living Your Best Life, I was at first thrilled—the responses were glowing—and then perplexed. I fundamentally agreed with what they said: that the book is a more intimate and poignant (yet... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Puffin lands Jacqueline Woodson's New York Times bestseller

Puffin will publish Brown Girl Dreaming, the multi-award winning memoir told in verse by author Jacqueline Woodson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 18:04:41 UTC ]
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#Merky Books snaps up youth activist Jeremiah Emmanuel's memoir

#Merky Books will publish the memoir of youth activist Jeremiah Emmanuel, “a guide to overcoming the obstacles young people should not have to face”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 13:08:54 UTC ]
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Elisabeth Sifton, Editor and Tamer of Literary Lions, Dies at 80

She was also a publisher and an author whose memoir affirmed that her father, the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, had popularized the Serenity Prayer. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 22:52:39 UTC ]
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Revisiting André Aciman’s Eccentric Family

This week, Josh Duboff reviews André Aciman’s “Find Me,” the sequel to his 2007 novel “Call Me by Your Name.” In 1995, Barry Unsworth wrote for the Book Review about “Out of Egypt,” Aciman’s memoir chronicling the family that shaped his life. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 10:00:09 UTC ]
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W&N pre-empts 'breathtaking' memoir from Shadrick

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has pre-empted a “breathtaking” memoir from Tanya Shadrick about waking from a coma. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 23:53:18 UTC ]
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Lilly Dancyger Wants You to Embrace Your Bad First Draft

In our series “Can Writing Be Taught?” we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger, editor at Narratively and author of the forthcoming memoir Negative Space. Lilly’s next... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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De’Shawn Charles Winslow wins 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

Huge congratulations to De’Shawn Charles Winslow, who last night took home the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for his acclaimed debut In West Mills. Winslow was presented with the prestigious prize—which has in previous years been awarded to Junot Diaz, Tiphanie Yanique, Viet Thanh Nguyen,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-11 17:00:27 UTC ]
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The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas review – how Austen's reputation has been warped

A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
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Alastair Campbell's mental health memoir to John Murray

Former political aide and author Alastair Campbell is publishing a "candid" and "empowering" memoir about his struggles with mental health Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-11 06:30:30 UTC ]
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Quiller buys prison memoir of NatWest Three member Darby

Quiller has bought the memoir of former British banker Giles Darby, one of the NatWest Three who was jailed in the US for his involvement in a $7m fraud. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-10 16:17:14 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate triumphs in six-publisher auction for O’Neill’s Belfast memoir

Alix O’Neill’s memoir of growing up in a Republican area of Belfast during the 1990s has gone to Fourth Estate Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-10 02:33:14 UTC ]
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Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year - meet the shortlist

Raymond AntrobusWho/ What inspired you to start writing? I never started writing poetry with the intention of writing books until publishers approached me. I was happy to write poems and travel and read the poems for audiences. I live poem by poem. The idea of a book of poems doesn’t really... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-12-05 12:09:15 UTC ]
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Edelweiss, Edelweiss? Julie Andrews Loves Reading About 18th-Century Plant Hunters

“I’m fascinated by stories of how the various plant specimens we take for granted today were originally discovered,” says the actor, whose latest book is “Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-05 10:00:03 UTC ]
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