The whole time I was reading, I had a feeling that the book was written just for me—which is the beauty of a perfectly crafted book, like how a great musician makes you feel as if they are singing directly to you in the crowd.
This book has charisma. I bought it for smart takes on whether it is okay to listen to, read, and laugh with the terrible men who make some of my favorite art, and it did deliver those, but it did more, too. This book interrogated and complicated the idea of fandom and cultural consumption and made me consider my own complicities in how I live and what media I consume.
Also, it was funny and so voicey that it felt like a conversation with a friend.
'Funny, lively and convivial... how rare and nourishing this sort of roaming thought is and what a joy to read' MEGAN NOLAN, SUNDAY TIMES
'An exhilarating, shape-shifting exploration of the perilous boundaries between art and life' JENNY OFFILL
A passionate, provocative and blisteringly smart interrogation of how we experience art in the age of #MeToo, and whether we can separate an artist's work from their biography.
What do we do with the art of monstrous men? Can we love the work of Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson, Hemingway and Picasso? Should we love…
Kelly’s book is one of the most honest, heartfelt accounts of how a relationship corrodes and deteriorates that I have ever encountered.
Having had a strikingly similar experience myself, I was pulled in by the story, and then I discovered her wonderful ability to interrogate the meanings of her experiences, to really consider herself as a character, and to wrestle with the complicated ethics of writing about family.
She has an anthropologist’s eye for discerning the nuanced dynamics of the cultures she immerses herself in, a novelist’s sense of story, and an essayist’s eagerness to ask difficult questions of self-implicating material. I loved the book and have recommended it widely.
Kelly McMasters found herself in her midthirties living her fantasy: she'd moved with her husband, a painter, from New York City to rural Pennsylvania, where their children roamed idyllic acres in rainboots and diapers. The pastoral landscape and the bookshop they opened were restorative at first, for her and her marriage. But soon, she was quietly plotting her escape.
In The Leaving Season, McMasters chronicles the heady rush of falling in love and carving out a life in the city, the slow dissolution of her relationship in an isolated farmhouse, and the complexities of making a new home for herself…
This is a craft book that one of my coaching clients recommended to me.
It offers an intricate approach to narrative design, using geometry, biology, and philosophy to build networks and systems of thoughts and ideas within the framework of literary writing. As a creative writing teacher and coach, I read a lot of craft books, and in terms of actionable ideas, this one is top tier.
It is written in the tone of a manual yet contains a high level of its own syntactic beauty and was clearly written using the very ideas and strategies it details.
"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers
As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one…
"Brutalities is electric with insight, riveted by its commitments—to love and bewilderment, to bearing witness—and utterly propulsive." —Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
"A perfect book." ― Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood and Body Work
A searing, vivid memoir that investigates the dynamics of violence, power, desire, and a body pushed to the brink.
Quarantined in a southwestern desert city in the midst of her high-risk pregnancy, Margo Steines felt her life narrow around her growing body, compelling her to reckon with the violence entangled in its history. She was a professional dominatrix in New York City, a homestead farmer in a brutal relationship, a welder on a high-rise building crew, and a mixed martial arts enthusiast; each of her many lives brought a new perspective on how power and masculinity coalesce—and how far she could push her body toward the brink. With unflinching candor, Steines searches for the roots of her erstwhile attraction to pain while charting the complicated triumph of gentleness and love.
My kiddo loves the dynamic between the mouse siblings, the adorable illustrations, and the details of how Sheila Rae moves through the world, pretending that cherries are eyeballs and sticks are monster fingers to be broken.
We talk a lot about bravery, and how being brave doesn’t mean not being scared, but persevering and asking for help when you are scared.
Amazon Editors recommend this book for children reading with help and building independent reading skills.
Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, the nationally bestselling and celebrated creator of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Owen, and Kitten's First Full Moon, Shelia Rae, the Brave is a warm, humorous, and loving story of sibling sympathy and support. Just because Sheila Rae is older, she doesn't always know better!
"I am very brave," Sheila Rae said, patting herself on the back. She wasn't afraid of anything—not thunder, not lightning, not the big black dog at the end of the block. And when she wanted…
We are deeply in the No Me Just MeAll by Myself phase of toddlerhood, so the loud assertions of autonomy are resonant.
It is so validating to see your feelings on the page, no matter how old you are. The older and younger sibling dynamic is also very familiar from our house, which we like to laugh about (particularly the bigger sibling pouring juice for the baby and dumping it on the floor).
Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter wants to show you all the things he can do for himself in this classic, funny, and heartwarming book. Whether he’s tying his shoes, coloring a picture, or riding his bike, both parents and children alike will relate to this beloved story. A perfect way to teach children about independence!
This was a book from my childhood and honestly I have no idea why my kid has latched onto it so much, but they often ask to sleep with it at night.
They especially like the chapter about “bumps” (which are actually feet under the covers in the bed), and we like to find their dad’s feet when he is in bed and notice that they are the same kind of “bumps.”
