The state of North Carolina is a perfect example of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” In Blood Done Sign My Name, Tim Tyson recounts a story from his youth in Oxford, NC in which a young black man is murdered by three white men, all of whom were fully acquitted by a white jury. The heart of Tyson’s story is the 1970 murder of Henry Marrow, a black Vietnam veteran with a wife, two children, and another on the way. […]
Detailed answers to questions you’ve never thought to ask.
I’ll admit, I zipped through What if? by Randall Munroe pretty quickly. It’s an interesting idea for a book and some of the questions Munroe answers were strangely fascinating. Unfortunately, I don’t have much patience for lengthy sciency-wiency explanations, so sometimes I would sort of drift off, or skim the answers. I definitely felt smarter when I got to the end though and I’m just waiting to show off next time someone asks me an absurd hypothetical question. Munroe is an entertaining writer and I […]
Never, ever house sit for a friend.
Care of Wooden Floors was recommended to me by Mr Smith (@changeist), and for that I will be eternally grateful. While it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, Will Wiles’ first novel was one of the best books I read this year. Told mostly through interior monologues and observation, Wiles’ nameless protagonist sets off on a journey to hell by agreeing to housesit for an orchestra conductor friend, (who’s not really a friend) as he must leave his East European home country to begin […]
Millennials are so screwed if this is our future.
I was surprised to find California by Edan Lepucki on several “Best” lists this year. While I did find it to be an easy, quick read I didn’t find the story itself to be as entertaining or engrossing as many of the reviews lead me to believe it would be. I didn’t regret reading California, but I certainly wouldn’t credit Lepucki with having written “a gripping and provocative debut novel” either. Frida and Cal live in the woods. Alone. In a shack. Apparently the […]