Helen Macdonald’s memoir H Is for Hawk received outstanding reviews and several prestigious awards last year. It is the beautifully written story of her grief after her father’s sudden death, the depression that followed, and her attempt to lose herself in falconry. Macdonald is a member of the research faculty at Cambridge University’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science, and her skills as both researcher and historian are on display throughout the book. She weaves her personal story into the larger world of falconry […]
An Updated Pride and Prejudice (by a kid I used to babysit!)
I grew up in Cincinnati, as did author Curtis Sittenfeld. In fact, the Sittenfelds lived next door to us on Menlo Avenue when I was a teenager, and I babysat Curtis and her older sister when they were quite small. They were only there for a few years and Curtis was young enough that she probably wouldn’t remember me, but I have followed her career from afar over the past decade and have always been thrilled and impressed that a fellow Cincinnatian has become a […]
I Believe in the Power of Creation (which is female)
To be something abnormal meant you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you …and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them. Who Fears Death is the story of a young woman who, in the face of formidable obstacles, must change the world. Onyesonwu, whose name means “who fears death,” possesses mystical powers. While this makes her unusual in her town, it is not what sets her apart from others, at least not at first. The novel […]
Different, Not Less
Nalo Hopkinson is becoming one of my favorite writers. Her novels are creative and humorous, informative and provocative. Sister Mine, like Brown Girl in the Ring, is set in Toronto and revolves around a family with formidable spiritual powers. As with BGITR, celestial beings or gods are characters in the story, and these gods are rooted in Caribbean religion/spirituality. While the search for lost mojo is a big part of this novel, and that part is fascinating and fun, the dominant theme that runs through […]