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It’s Not a Shed in the Back Yard, It’s a Studiolo
I have a shed in my back yard where I work; it has my desk, a book case, and a sofa where my dog hangs out most of the day. It shall henceforth be known as a studiolo, thanks to Andrew Hui.
I Have No Opinion at All about Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney has a book out this fall, and for a few weeks it was absolutely unavoidable for bookish types. I realized that I have no opinion whatsoever on Rooney’s work, and I may be the only person in the country—maybe in several countries—who is completely neutral on this topic. It reminded me of my…
Review: Sinead O’Connor, The Last Interview
Review: Sinead O’Connor, The Last Interview Melville House, October 29, 2024 After the death of a cultural figure, Melville House will sometimes select interviews that the person did over the course of their career and publish them. This collection of Sinéad O’Connor’s interviews, including an interview she did on The View in 2021 before her…
Review: A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnes Varda
In A Complicated Passion, longtime film critic Carrie Rickey simply follows Varda’s life from cradle to grave. She begins with the artist’s parents and her early life in Sète, where she formed her attachment to the waterfront. “If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes. If we opened me up, we’d find beaches,” Varda said…
To Catch and Comfort
This week, I memorized a poem for maybe the first time in my life. It was a very good decision.
Silly + Serious = Superpowers
It takes some serious delulu to think you can build a reading app to rival Goodreads, one with more than 2 million users (that’s what Odunayo did). It also takes delulu to write books, to publish them, to send out newsletters, to contact bookstores. To paint. To write songs. To build furniture. To do any…
Review: The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry
D’Erasmo has instead created the clearest example of the old writing saw “show, don’t tell” for a book about sustaining one’s creativity when the demands of family, the necessity of paid work, and the maintenance of friendships drain the energy you would otherwise put into art. She interviews a variety of artists—composers, dancers, actors, writers—who…
Review: Concerning the Future of Souls
Concerning the Future of Souls is a follow-up of sorts to Joy Williams’s 99 Stories of God. Both contain ninety-nine very short stories—in one case that I can think of, a single word—that might be called prose poems or (very) short stories or microfictions or, as Maggie Nelson called them in her Bluets, propositions. The…
Summer Reading Adventure Week 4
Welcome to week three of our reading adventures, courtesy of the National Book Foundation’s reading challenge. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Wingback to read along and comment, and be entered to win volumes 1 and 2 of Memoirs of a French Courtesan at the end of the summer.
Best Dressed: How Cinderella Got into the Ball
I’ve been thinking about balls a lot lately, thanks to my translation of Memoirs of a French Courtesan Volume 2: Spectacle. The author, Céleste Mogador, attends her first ball as young woman and eventually earns fame and her sobriquet, Mogador, while dancing with and for all the high-born young men in Paris.
Summer Reading Adventure Week 3
Welcome to week three of our reading adventures, courtesy of the National Book Foundation’s reading challenge. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Wingback to read along and comment, and be entered to win volumes 1 and 2 of Memoirs of a French Courtesan at the end of the summer.
Summer Reading Adventure Week 2
Welcome to week two of our reading adventures, courtesy of the National Book Foundation’s reading challenge. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Wingback to read along and comment, and be entered to win volumes 1 and 2 of Memoirs of a French Courtesan at the end of the summer.
Review: Godwin
Godwin Joseph O’Neill Pantheon, June 2024, $28 How did I get this book: NetGalley ARC There are two things to know about me before I begin this book review: I have been thinking about race, business, and sports since former NBA star and Portland Trailblazer Rasheed Wallace gave a blistering interview to The Oregonian in…
This Was Supposed to Be a Book Review
I have notes, quotes, and a half-assed draft of a book review waiting in the Wingback wings. This was the weekend I was going to pull it all together and publish it on Monday. However. Memoirs of a French Courtesan Volume 2: Spectacle has been to the proofreader and the layout has been completed. I…
A Summer Reading Adventure! Let’s Do It!
I’m going to post updates here all summer, including resources, additional details, and links to the subscribers-only posts. Let’s get reading! I am probably going to regret this, because who has the time? I have freelance work to do, and a thesis to research, and reviews to write, and this newsletter to keep up. Do…
Today Was a Good Day
As I opened my book to read for a while before going to bed, I realized I had had a very good day. I made a list in my bullet journal to remind myself what made it good; I thought it might be worth sharing and spelling out—briefly!—why these were good things. The Morning Run…
Review: The Understory
The UnderstorySaneh Sangsuk, translated by Mui PoopoksakulDeep Vellum, March 2024, $17.95How did I get this book? Library There are a few basic questions to ask of any book, and The Understory answers them in intriguing ways. Questions like: Does this book use paragraphs? No! Is there a plot line to follow? Not so much! Is…
Review: Glorious Exploits
Glorious Exploits Ferdia Lennon Henry Holt, March 2024, $26,99 How did I get this book?: Library This is not a properly critical review. The review is five stars, 12/10, would read again, no notes, you will not be sad to spend your time and money with Lampo, even if he is sometimes a frustratingly selfish…