Tag: review

  • New Review: The Long Version by Petra Hulova

    I’ve got a new review up at Reading in Translation this morning. I do highly recommend The Long Version by Petra Hulova, translated by Alex Zucker—so much so that I sent a link to this review to the group text with my high school friends. So, like, a real recommendation.

  • Readings for October 2026

    Readings for October 2026

    I finished quite a few books this month; most of them were short, but one was very long and dense. One was not great, two were rereads of books I love. Two were for review, none are going to be popular with people who like crime fiction or romantasy. Let’s go!

  • Review: Sinead O’Connor, The Last Interview

    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

    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…

  • Review: The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry

    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

    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…

  • Review: Godwin

    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…

  • Review: The Understory

    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

    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…

  • Review: Seven Steeples

    Review: Seven Steeples

    I wrote this more than a year ago and apparently never published it. So enjoy! Seven Steeples Sara Baume HarperCollins, April 2022, $18.99 How did I get this book? Library There are many good reasons to read a book where nothing much happens. If your own life has a lot happening, a quiet book can…