About halfway through Americanah, we see the origin of Ifemelu’s blog, “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black”. She makes her first post and checks the stats a little later. Nine people have read it. She panics and takes the post down, editing and modifying it…
Last week I read an excerpt from Charles Baxter’s Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature. In the excerpt, Baxter talks about building characters through lists of objective, detailed facts and material possessions. The lists he recommends do not allow for character personality judgments such as “She is determined” or “He is shy”, opting for…
“In my peer education courses I was taught to say that I am a person with schizoaffective disorder. "Person-first language" suggests that there is a person in there somewhere without the delusion and the rambling and the catatonia.But what if there isn't? What happens if I see my disordered mind as a fundamental part of…
Nonfiction gets a bad rap. When we think of nonfiction, we think of textbooks, flowery essays, and dry biographies of famous dead people, all requiring knowledge of field-specific jargon or a dictionary to decipher. I’m guilty of perpetuating this stereotype; for years, when people asked me what I read, I told them I was game…
I finished On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous sitting in the passenger seat of my car. The tollway roared beneath me. Closing the book, I looked out over the empty land blurring past my window and said to my partner, “God damn. That was a book.” I couldn’t think of any other way to describe it…
All language is communication. That may sound stupidly obvious from someone who runs a blog, but it's good to remind ourselves. Every time we chat about the weather with a colleague, get into arguments with someone who watches too much Fox News, or order food at a restaurant, we’re employing different modes of communication. When…
I jinxed myself. Contrary to May’s introduction post, this month was more hectic than the last few. I should’ve seen that coming- birthdays and warm weekends make for a packed planner. It made me glad to have chosen In The Watchful City as the Book of the Month. Short, easy, and physically small enough to…
Exercise, in any form, goes hand-in-hand with rest. No bodybuilder lifts billion-pound dumbbells seven days a week. No marathon runner runs twenty miles every day. Proper exercise involves planning days of lighter exercise between the days when your muscles get put to the test. These rest days are critical for preventing injury and building muscle…
I’ve developed a process for writing my book reflections. Once I’ve read the book, I go back through any notes I took and look up unfamiliar concepts or questions I might have. I delve into reviews to give myself some background about what other people thought. When I’ve decided I’ve read and learned enough, I’ll…
Writing is, and always has been, entwined with visual arts. Art shown in galleries and museums display artist statements to give the piece context. Illustrations and photos dot their way through books or are displayed boldly on the cover. The two share a vocabulary- one written, one visual- that can be used to explore new…
Tea Reads 