The more time I’ve spent reading about slavery this year, the more often I’ve discovered references to it in unexpected places. (Looking to catch up? Here are all the links to the previous posts this year.) For instance, in Fred D’Aguiar’s memoir Year of Plagues (2021): “When I think
Yesterday, in the wake of the librarians’ shushing, some might have taken advantage of the ensuing silence for a nap. Now, yawning ourselves awake, we can resume our chat about the overlap between fiction and non-fiction, in sprawling and slightly chaotic stacks and shelves. In the opening story of
Even though I’d originally planned to write four posts about slavery this year (here are the first, second, and third), I’ve found an abundance of reading selections, so I’m sneaking in a half-step for this project. For many readers, the contemporary author who comes to mind first, on the
Even though I should have known better, I started to read Miriam Toews’ new novel, Fight Night, shortly before bed and then stayed up to finish it. Because Shiv’s voice is irresistible and the story of life with her grandmother and her mother was so hilarious and moving. But
For my birthday this year, Mr BIP arranged for me to have a cake with a sentence from an Alice Munro story iced onto it: “The world would be grand, if it weren’t for the people.” It’s an interesting quotation in a year when the pandemic has made everyone
