To Read & To Write

The Loss of All Lost Things: Stories is a collection of fifteen short stories by Amina Gautier published in 2016. Each of the stories were featured in other publications, separately, before being collected and placed together within this evocative and meditative book. All of the stories, as you may have guessed, reflect on initial reactions, emotional and/or physical, that affect those who must come to terms, whether or not they'd like to, with loss. The losses in this book range from the disappearance of a child, the separation between partners, the dissolution of trust, the emigration of a family from a community, the broken bridge between friends, death itself... and so much more. Amina Gautier writes from an African-American perspective, offering words that share a glimpse into a world teetering on the edge of a particular subjective vulnerability, yet with such substance that I, while reading, had no doubt that I was secure in her worlds; I was on the inside, looking out. ...

Twin Peaks, that quaint, quiet small town in Washington State that went a bit off the rails after the death - murder, to be more precise - of the town's sweetheart, Laura Palmer, is, as we know, a *fictional* place created from the minds of David Lynch and Mark Frost at the end of the '80s and early '90s. What Mark Frost ingeniously presents us with in  The Secret History of Twin Peaks (published 2016) is a slew of documents from diaries, reports and transcripts from the FBI and CIA, detective photographs, military (especially the U.S. Air Force and Navy) notes and letters, psychiatric files, newspaper clippings, and all sorts of other case files which locate Twin Peaks in a larger, global arena, with the intent to show how this small town is linked to the bigger picture in myriad ways. The whole of Secret History is written by an unknown Archivist, whose footnotes and endnotes, prefaces and epilogues throughout help us uncover the mystery surrounding Laura Palmer, her ...

"In the Land of Giants: A Journey Through the Dark Ages" by Max Adams (2016) is exemplar of how I wish history would always be written. Adams, an archaeologist, writer, and traveller has a profound understanding of Great Britain's history, and uses its architecture, landscapes, metalwork, books, and other geological sites to explain and theoretically dissect the events of its past in order to understand the present historical - and moreover - social - conjuncture. In this book, Adams unpacks one of the most ambiguous times in Great Britain's long history, what is known as the Dark Ages, using artifacts, pathways, and geological markers that still, unbeknownst to the majority, stand (either above or underground) to this day. Furthermore, to make his work all the more visceral, Adams avoids traveling by anything other than his own two feet, and in doing so falls into the landscape and its horizons as his predecessors would have.  Though there have been recent e...

This is a lovely book full of bright, happy colors. Featuring fun rhyming words about nature and animals, "Be Still, Life" wonderfully captures a sunny, warm day, just when all the bugs, people, and creatures come out of hiding. The illustrations are a delightful sort of chaos, just like life, and may help children find inner peace and calm in what may seem like a busy mess of movement and energy. Slow down and point out the things you *can* see, hear, touch, feel, smell... and one by one they will come to you and silence your worry and anxiety, asking you to look within. "Be Still, Life" is a story for children (and adults) about being present in the world, being aware of what surrounds you, and embracing each moment of our special lives. A perfect book for spring and early summer.

“The Girl Who Drank The Moon” by Kelly Barnhill (2016), winner of the Newbery Medal, is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Although “The Girl Who Drank The Moon” is geared towards kids in about fifth grade, I, at thirty, loved reading this book and was fully engaged with the story, racing towards the end to find out the fate of the characters within the book. Barnhill mixes bits of alchemy, folklore, politics, romance, psychology, adventure, and horror in her fairy-tale, which is all wonderfully expected. But, as New York Times reviewer Diana Wagman has put it, “Many books we read when we’re young want to teach us lessons about life. True, the things we learn in them can stay with us forever. But lessons can be so dull. Luckily, Kelly Barnhill’s wonderful fourth novel, ‘The Girl Who Drank The Moon,’ educates about oppression, blind allegiance and challenging the status quo while immersing the reader in an exhilarating story full of magical creatures and derring-do.” The gir...