Amazing historical novel with breathtaking details about slavery. Ending seemed like it rushed really quickly to try to find some deeper meaning but never quite got there.
The

In this quasi fictional/nonfictional collection, Labatut explores modern science/medicine. What was interesting to me was the interaction between different disciplines. Inventions don't exist in a vacuum but are a reflection of the society, arts, culture, etc.

Overall, to me, this felt like a postcolonial/satirical turn on the Gothic novel. The aspects of Gothic lit are amped up. There's also something very recursive about the repetition of trauma between the Keep & the prison. However, I felt like the ending could have been extended further. It felt very rushed & almost detracts.

It's always interesting how a reread can change your understanding of the book. On first read, I thought this was a touching father son moment. But in a deeper second read, it feels like an old man who is very much scared of the world changing but also distrustful and complicit in bringing world destruction.

Really intriguing read that takes us to an Indian reservation in rural USA. What starts as a bar fight quickly escalates to an ancient haunting, bringing together Gothic horror tropes and Native American beliefs and culminating in the most high stakes basketball game I have ever read. What's apparent here is the author's love of his community & the way he upholds everyday actions until they too are touched with the divine.

Thank you to the editors for including my poem in this issue! Admist so much civic unrest globally, this magazine is a welcome remembrance of hope and community.

Is there anything as comforting as Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies Detective Agency? In a Song of Comfortable Chairs, we once again join Mmas Ramotswe and Makutsi as they solve the larger mysteries of life in urban Botswana. McCall Smith is masterful with his pacing and pontifications. It's as much of a mystery novel ad it is a philosophical meandering. I love this series and look forward to every new addition!

I am just always confused by the overt red-face in this book and I don't know what purpose it serves.

Honestly I did not like the title story. To me, it felt like this book reflect one POV - that of a rich white passing New Yorker. I think it was satirical but I didn't really find it funny or interesting.