“Please tell the people of your country, a child in the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones.” Have you […]
The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang
In the summer of 2010, I was fortunate to have been part of a month-long study abroad program in China sponsored by my university. The […]
Why Retire When There Are Aliens to Fight?
Every genre in literature has a subgenre within it that contains books that can be considered “comfort” or “cozy” reads, stories which are simply fun […]
Neglected Books, a Talking Cat, and the Teenagers who Help Them
There is a phrase which appears over and over again in the novel The Cat who Saved Books that any book lover can instantly understand […]
Jack London’s To Build a Fire (or, why you shouldn’t go for a hike in -75 degree temperatures)
When it comes to Jack London, you will mostly hear about his most famous stories, The Call of the Wild and White Fang. I haven’t […]
Climate Fiction: A Cli-Fi Reading List
Apocalyptic fiction is not a new genre. One could argue that it is one of literature’s oldest genres. Ragnarok. The Revelations of John. The (often […]
Weird Fiction Spotlight: Caitlín R. Kiernan
Weird Fiction is a difficult genre to describe, but you know it when you read it. Stories that get categorized as Weird Fiction often take […]
Moon Witch, Spider King, Bewildered Reader
One of my favorite books from recent years is Black Leopard, Red Wolf (BLRW) by Marlon James, a fantasy novel with sharp, African twists on […]
Toni Morrison’s Sula
Jamaican-born author Marlon James has recently become one of my favorites. I have blogged about his novel Black Leopard, Red Wolf in the past, and […]