Toni Morrison said that this book was required reading, so I obliged and I have to say that she’s not wrong. Between the World and Me is a small book, and not particularly long, but it definitely packs a punch. The book is an extended letter to Coates’ son, Samori, and so has a personal […]
Captivating and breathtaking don’t cut it when searching for words to describe The House of Broken Angels, but they come pretty darn close. My body was firmly planted on my couch from the second that I opened the first page and started to read about delirious funerals to when I closed the book after reading […]
Until I started reading it, I had no idea how much I needed this book. The Fire This Time is a collection of poems and essays dedicated to the topic of race the United States. I think that the editor, Jesmyn Ward, put it best in her introduction when she outlined what kind of book […]
Talking Back, Talking Black is a systematic and impassioned celebration of and commentary on Black English that elucidates and informs without ever feeling as though there is more of an agenda than that of increased understanding. Aside from the introduction, the book only contains five chapters, but each of them packs a punch as they […]
As someone who is historically not the biggest fan of the apocalypse genre of novels I was astonished over how much I enjoyed Severance by Ling Ma. This incredibly engaging novel managed to grasp and hold my attention enough that I read it in a single sitting, as I found myself captivated by its protagonist, […]
It has been a little over six months since I posted my first book review on this website, I and in that time I have written about fiction, nonfiction, poetry, books I’ve read for fun, books I’ve read for class, and books that fall in between. There have also been several books that I’ve read […]
I have been wanting to read The Hate U Give for over a year now, and I am so glad that I finally got around to doing so. My hesitancy in reading this book was not insignificant. I was assured of its quality, and of that I had no doubt, but I knew that this […]
The best thing about specializing in literature is reading great books for class, and Samanta Schweblin’s Distancia de rescate is no exception. I was delighted to discover that this excellent novel also has an excellent translation — Fever Dream, translated by Megan McDowell. My review here is unique compared to the others I have done […]
Even from just the first few pages of The Kindness of Enemies I knew that this was going to be a book that would stick with me for a long time. The novel is two stories in parallel, one taking place in the twenty-first century, and one in the 19th. The story starts with Natasha […]
Stalking God: My Unorthodox Search for Something to Believe In chronicles the spiritual journey of Anjali Kumar, a mother in search of a spiritual awakening for herself and for her young daughter. Kumar started her search upon the birth of her daughter, Zia, in order that when Zia started to ask the big questions such […]
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker is one of those books that I found almost impossible to stop reading. The 291 page tome took me precisely three sittings, with the interruptions being annoyingly mandatory. I make no secret of my fascination with myth, and thus when the opportunity to read about the Trojan […]
This past Tuesday marked the release of one of my most favorite books that I have read this year — An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for months (I preordered it in February, before they even released the cover!) and I have been following its promotion […]
With a subtitle like Why Language Can’t Be Tamed how could I possibly pass up on reading Talk on the Wild Side by Lane Greene? The linguist in me simply couldn’t resist, and my present self is particularly glad that I didn’t. Greene confesses in the text that he himself is not a professional linguist, […]
Happy Monday! I’m switching it up and posting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week instead of the normal Tuesday/Friday schedule. Why you may ask? Well because, what some of you may know, and others don’t, is that Word-for-Sense isn’t the only place that I publish book reviews. I also write occasional reviews for Three […]
I am going to be upfront and say that I will probably never read this book again. The Dinner List is not a great book, but that does not necessarily mean that it is a bad one either. I certainly do not regret having read the book, but I have to admit that it is […]