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
Rereading Cat’s Eye while rereading Rosemary Sullivan’s biography of Margaret Atwood emphasized the parallels between the narrator’s and author’s childhoods. I was a teenager when I read Cat’s Eye for the first time; I would have had no idea that Elaine’s childhood of lakes and insects was Peggy’s childhood
Seth launched his own comic book, Palookaville, in 1991. That’s where readers first met the Matchcard brothers. The 2019 Drawn & Quarterly volume includes these earlier stories (distinguishable by stylistic variations) and substantially expands this family’s story. The brothers’ relationship is defined by their respective relationships with the family
I’m even more likely to pick up dark and disturbing stories when the sun is beating down. This stems to my “discovery” of Stephen King in a teenaged summer, beginning with Night Shift and Skeleton Crew. There I was: lying on my back in the grass behind the rented
