Book Length Fiction

All Our Names

Dinaw Mengestu’s book explores the love between Helen, a midwestern social worker, and Isaac, an expatriated African revolutionary, in the 1970s midwest.

Klara and the Sun

Kazuo Ishiguro’s book got me thinking about the things we do to our children in the name of love.

Short Stories

What Got Into Us?

Read Jacob Guajardo’s gorgeous, daring prose in the 2018 collection The Best American Short Stories.

What Shines on It?

(My amazing) Grub Street instructor Sara Rauch’s book is full of gems, among which Kintsukuroi sticks with me for it’s beautiful imagery of flawed but painfully beautiful reconstruction.

Featherweight

This piece by author Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, appearing in the March 29, 2021 New Yorker, had voice for days.

Book Length Non-Fiction

Heavy

Kiese Laymon’s voice-rich memoir is as immersive as it is challenging. Read it, reread it, and listen to him read his own words in the audio version of his work.

Crying in H Mart

Michelle Zauner’s book: oh the food, food, food.