Author Archives: Teresa

Autumn

Posted on August 13, 2017

I’m tired of the news. I’m tired of the way it makes things spectacular that aren’t, and deals so simplistically with what’s truly appalling. I’m tired of the vitriol. I’m tired of the anger. I’m tired of the meanness. I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 11 Comments

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Posted on August 12, 2017

This ambitious novel by Arundhati Roy begins with the story of a woman named Anjum. Born intersex, Anjum was raised as a boy, but as soon as she was able to choose for herself she gave herself the name Anjum … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 4 Comments

Lincoln in the Bardo

Posted on August 6, 2017

I like George Saunders’s short stories, but I was skeptical of his first full-length novel. The premise—Abraham Lincoln surrounded by a chorus of ghosts at his son’s grave—seemed like something that could just be plotless introspection. I’d don’t need books … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 8 Comments

Exit West

Posted on August 4, 2017

Once again, Frances, Meredith, Nicole, Rebecca, and I (aka the WoMan Booker Shadow Panel) are reading the Man Booker longlist together (or as many as we can get to). I read The Underground Railroad a while ago, so this is my … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 10 Comments

The Wine-Dark Sea

Posted on July 29, 2017

The 16th book in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series finds the Surprise still in the South Pacific, en route to South America, where Stephen has a secret spying mission. The journey so far has been complicated, with multiple delays along the way, making … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction | 6 Comments

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Posted on July 24, 2017

In 2009, Susannah Cahalan was 24 years old and well into an exciting and successful career as a journalist at the New York Post. And then she noticed what looked like a bug bite on her arm. That was followed by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction | 12 Comments

Between the World and Me

Posted on July 23, 2017

I have raised you to respect every human being as singular, and you must extend that same respect into the past. Slavery is not an indefinable mass of flesh. It is a particular, specific enslaved woman, whose mind is active … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction | 21 Comments

The Three Musketeers

Posted on July 22, 2017

This 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas, set in the early 17th century, is one of those books that I knew a little something about just from osmosis: France, swordplay, plots, All for One and One for All. The story is, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction | 12 Comments

Rosemary’s Baby

Posted on July 20, 2017

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin is a classic horror novel about a young couple, a dream apartment, and a whole slew of witches (Maybe? Probably.) The film version is perhaps even more famous than the novel. I saw it years … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction | 6 Comments

Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment

Posted on July 12, 2017

Did you know that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world? At least it did in 2012, according to the essay by Jeremy Travis and Bruce Western in this collection edited by Angela J. Davis. Besides having … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 2 Comments