A couple weeks ago, I wrote about another long-term project I’ve enjoyed in 2024, slowly reading through the 584 pages of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning. Another book I started reading on New Year’s Day? Ruth Padel’s 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem. Occasionally I forget
When I read the description of Coleman Hill, I thought of it more as a story about place than about family. (I first read about it when it made the Carol Shields Prize longlist—eventually it was shortlisted and, yes, I’ll soon update my progress on that reading too—and it
Now that it’s July, I’m re-examining the goals I had in mind earlier this year, checking to see whether my plans have aligned with my reading choices so far. A few days ago, I wrote about one of my slow-reading projects this year, and in a few days
Past the mid-point of the reading year, I notice that there are some books I finished reading some time ago, lingering. Just, around. Left in innocuous places as though I just finished reading them there. Finally, when I found a place for Khadija Abdalla Bajaber’s novel (on the shelf
Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning (2016) is a doorstopper of a book that grew out of his desire to write an introductory chapter to a book about Black Studies programs in American (i.e. in the United States) universities and colleges. When his chapter was 90 pages long,
