Articles

Meghan O’Rourke’s first collection of poetry, Halflife (W.W Norton, 2007), is an enjoyable read that explores the theme of decay - the titular halflife – through a journey of experiences both real and imagined. Divided into five sections, each section represents a different stage of decay.

When it comes to hardcover books, I rarely remove the dust jacket while I’m reading it. Generally, I prefer the feel of the dust jacket in my hands, with its texture of newness. But when I started The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine, I was compelled to remove the jacket, placing it in a secure place on my shelf. Not that there is anything wrong with the dust jacket—it is a fine design.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich is the story of a fictional small town in North Dakota named Pluto. The town’s story is told through the stories of several of its residents and families, a story of racial tension, religion, and other standard themes.

There are two books I can remember that ever made me physically cry. There were the rape scenes in Saramago’s Blindness, and there was nearly every chapter of Michael Kimball’s How Much of Us There Was.

Michael Kimball is the author of The Way the Family Got Away, How Much of Us There Was, and the recently released Dear Everybody. Dear Everybody is the story of Jonathon Bender told through a series of his own suicide letters, as well as his mother's journal entries, his brother's narrative, and other media.