![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
While there were certainly many pearls of wisdom scattered in bell hooks’ essays on love, I found many of the observations and conclusions she makes to be simplistic and at times even presumptions. Within these 13 chapters, bell hooks interrogates love (what does it mean to love someone? how does love look?) against the backdrop…
3 STARS, Adult, All About Love, All About Love: New Visions, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bell hooks, Black & Black heritage authors, ESSAYS, female authors, Nonfiction, parenting, psychology, published in 1999, read in 2022, Religion, self-help, social issues, Sociology, spirituality, trying and failing @ feminism -
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
“It is in the most surreal situations that a person feels the most present, the closest to reality.” An ingenious and effervescent collection of surreal stories that will definitely appeal to fans of Kevin Wilson, Helen Oyeyemi, and Hiroko Oyamada. Ling Ma has a knack for blending realistic dynamics and issues with absurdist ones, and,…
4 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, Bliss Montage, books about writers, California, China, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, creative writing seminars, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, existentialism, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, interconnected stories, Ling Ma, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, los angeles, MAGICAL REALISM, motherhood, NEW YORK, office, parenting, playful style, portal fantasy, pregnancy, published in 2022, read in 2022, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unnamed country, weird -
Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah
Calling for a Blanket Dance employs one of my (recent) favorite literary ‘techniques’, which consists in using the short-story format to tell an overarching story. A few weeks before reading this I read Morgan Talty’s Night of the Living Rez, which also used the short-story format to tell a young man’s coming-of-age. Unlike that title,…
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3.5 STARS, addiction, Adult, America, belonging, Calling for a Blanket Dance, Cherokee Kiowa Mexican author, CHILDHOOD, collection of short stories, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, family, fatherhood, gritty realism, growing up, indigenous, indigenous author, interconnected stories, intergenerational, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, MEMORY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, Oklahoma, Oscar Hokeah, parenting, polyphonic, Poverty, published in 2022, RACE, read in 2022, reservations, short stories, siblings, snapshots, social issues, trauma -
The Other Mother by Rachel M. Harper
“Yes, of course. It is always him they want to know about—the father, not the other mother.” The Other Mother is an affecting and nuanced multigenerational tale unearthing long-buried family histories. The author’s interrogation of motherhood challenges the heteronormative archetype of the nuclear family, as she focuses on the experiences, choices, and parenting of single-women…
1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, addiction, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, break-ups, campus, Contemporary, drama, f/f, family, FAMILY SAGA, fathers & daughters, female authors, FLORIDA, forgiveness, gay, grandfathers, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, identity, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, Miami, motherhood, mothers & sons, musicians, My reviews, New England, parenting, Providence, published in 2022, queer, Rachel M. Harper, read in 2022, reading, rhode island, siblings, The Other Mother, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love -
You Are Free by Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna has a knack for unsettling her readers. The stories collected in You Are Free are a testament to her ability to create and maintain an atmosphere of disquiet, one that adds to the ambiguous characters populating her stories. The people Senna centres her stories around seem perpetually uneasy and their behaviour—which ranges from…
3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, class, collection of short stories, Contemporary, Danzy Senna, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), favourite authors, female authors, feverish, graphic content, LITERARY FICTION, motherhood, parenting, passing, published in 2011, RACE, read in 2022, reading, short stories, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, surreal, You Are Free -
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Lacklustre and monotonous, not only did How High We Go in the Dark fail to grip my attention but it also failed to elicit an emotional response on my part. It was a bland and repetitive affair, which is a pity given the hype around it. It didn’t help that a few weeks ago I…
2 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, apocalyptic, asian american, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), doctors, dystopia, environmental, existentialism, family, GRIEF, illness, interconnected stories, japan, male authors, pandemic, parenting, post-apocalyptic, published in 2022, read in 2022, SCI-FI, SPACE, spaceships, SPECULATIVE FICTION, weak prose, weak worldbuilding -
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Written in Lahiri’s characteristically understated prose Unaccustomed Earth is a bittersweet and minutely observed collection of short stories. Set in America, India, and even Thailand, these stories focus on relationships between siblings, parents and their children, grandparents and their grandchildren, married couples, and friends. They are also characterized by a strong sense of nostalgia, partly…
1970s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3.75 stars, addiction, ageing, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cambridge (us), cheating, cold tone, collection of short stories, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, favourite authors, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, India, indian american author, intergenerational, introspective, Jhumpa Lahiri, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MARRIAGE, My reviews, parenting, PUBLISHED IN 2008, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, restrained prose, seattle, short stories, siblings, thailand, Unaccustomed Earth, unrequited love, washington -
Fault Lines by Emily Itami
“Is it normal to fluctuate so quickly between feeling tender towards your husband and fervently wishing him a violent death?” Fault Lines by Emily Itami is a fun and short read. Itami’s dry humor brought to mind Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times, but, thankfully for me at least, Fault Lines proved to be a much more…
-
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara and the Sun presents its readers with a quiet yet touching meditation on life. In a similar fashion as Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro’s foray into the speculative realm is deeply grounded in the mundane. Yet, in spite of its ordinary trappings, Klara and the Sun is a work that is brimming…
1st pov, 4 STARS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, atmospheric, beautiful prose, British author, environmental, existentialism, favourite authors, friendships, identity, introspective, Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, near future/alternate reality, parenting, psychological, published in 2021, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, SCI-FI, SLICE OF LIFE, SPECULATIVE FICTION, technology, unnamed country, what ifs -
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Such a Fun Age is a engaging, if ultimately frustrating, read. The premise brought to mind two favorites of mine (Lucy and Luster, both focus on young black women living with white middle-class couples and taking ‘care’ of their child). Given the buzz around Such a Fun Age I had rather high expectations and when…
3rd pov, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, Black & Black heritage authors, class, Contemporary, drama, female authors, female friendships, friendships, HUMOR, influencers, Kiley Reid, millennial, motherhood, parenting, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, published in 2019, RACE, read in 2021, rich people, rom-coms, satire, sitter/au pair/governess, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, social media, Such a Fun Age, Summer, summer reads, work culture
luce [is reading] 