She defines the gift economy as, “wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is not determined by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away. The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed in gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity” (p32-33, Serviceberry). Continue reading
What becomes fraught is the expectation of ‘truth’ in nonfiction writing. And the truth I speak of here is not an ‘ultimate truth’ that is objective (although there are always objective truths in what we write). The ‘truth’ and the ‘expectation’ can be thought of as the relationship between the reader and writer. Continue reading
This book seems to confront me, forcing me to question my own life, career, relationships, and goals. I am always a firm believer that good novels make us ask questions about ourselves. It isn’t just about escaping, but instead escaping within ourselves and discovering something new. Continue reading
So, I thought. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible to make a summer reading list written and recommended by an avid reader and book-loving human with some literary qualifications up her sleeve.
Below, you’ll find six books that I highly recommend for reading over the summer. Some are new releases, and some are recent. There is a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. They are weird, serious, and hilarious. Hopefully, there is something for everyone. You get extra points if you read all six over the summer and let me know what you thought of them in the comments below. Continue reading
The novel is set in a not-so-distant future in Iceland and follows four main characters as they navigate a campaign leading up to a national referendum that would see an extremely controversial ’empathy test’ made mandatory for all Icelandic citizens. It is not a futuristic novel by any means, and the events and setting of the novel actually feel like they could be happening right now – making it all the more unsettling as a reader. Continue reading
The double-edged sword of the close-knit community of the fictional country town of Ballyrowan is that it is both beautiful and utterly debilitating. The things that bring the community together over these decades are also what tear it apart. The secrets, resentments, love, and anger are all-consuming and impossible to untangle. Continue reading
I have been reading a lot based on my mood, and what I have felt like reading over the last few weeks has been unhinged, strange horror. I am absolutely obsessed with horror films; I truly have seen almost all of them at this point. My favourites are the kinds with ghosts, hauntings, possessions, demons, … Continue reading
The novel follows the life of Roland Baines, and the novel swaps between Roland’s formative years at an all boys boarding school in the U.K. and his adult life as a single father to his son Lawrence, after his wife disappears one day. Continue reading
Keegan is an Irish author who grew up in Ireland but she has also lived in the United States, Wales, and is now back in Ireland. Her writing, like all Irish writing seems to have to beauty and softness about it that I can’t quite explain, but truly love to read. I’ve written about my love of Irish authors a lot on this blog and one of my favourites is Niall Williams’ This is Happiness. You can read my review of Williams’ book here. Continue reading
His latest work though is a very different kind of book. Instead of creating worlds in a well or alternate universes through tunnels, Murakami has released a book about his experiences as a career author, and in it, he details all the highs and lows of what it is really like to write books for over 35 years. In this book, he talks about each section being a speech rather than an essay or memoir, and I feel like that is perhaps the best way to think of this book. It does feel like Murakami is talking to you – delivering a speech at a graduation or event. Considering that Murakami rarely makes public appearances, he does this kind of speech writing well. Continue reading
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