Being the ADHD fuzzybrain that I am, I stumbled upon the concept(s) of minimalism a while ago and roughly 846 hyperfixation sessions later, I’m loving the idea of decluttering for mental health and negative space — or, to describe it in non-minimalist jargon: empty space. Being the postwar grandchild that I am, I'm used
What the blurb tells us: When Chris Kraus, an unsuccessful artist pushing forty, spends an evening with a rogue academic named Dick, she falls madly and inexplicably in love, enlisting her husband in her haunted pursuit. Dick proposes a kind of game between them, but when he fails to answer their letters Chris continues
Before my wife turned vegetarian, I’d always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way. To be frank, the first time I met her I wasn’t even attracted to her. Middling height; bobbed hair neither long nor short; jaundiced, sickly-looking skin; somewhat prominent cheekbones; her tied, sallow aspect told me all I needed
What the blurb says: So overwhelmed was Marie de Gournay by the work of French essayist and philosopher Michel de Montaigne that when she finally met him, she stabbed herself with a hairpin until the blood ran in order to show her devotion. An awkward, obsessive character, she set herself against the world in
I simply wanted to know — for myself and for my family — what meat is. Where does it come from? How is it produced? What are the economical, social and environmental effects? Are there animals that it is straightforwardly right to eat? Are there situations in which not eating animals is wrong? If this
Horace was alone in the city and he realized that being alone in the city was worse than being alone on the ranch. Because when he was alone on the ranch he had the dream of the city, the dream of what he would become in the city. But now he was there and
Leo had been avoiding his wife, Victoria, who was barely speaking to him and his sister Beatrice who wouldn't stop speaking to him—rambling on and on about getting together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. In July. Leo hadn't spent a holiday with his family in twenty years, since the mid-'90s if he was remembering correctly: he wasn't
What the blurb tells us: Mr. Pooter is a man of modest ambition, content with his clerkly lot. So why is he always in trouble with disagreeable tradesmen, impudent young clerks and wayward friends? And what is he to do about his son Lupin's distinctly unsuitable choice of bride? However hard he tries, life piles
"I have to keep convincing myself", Helen said when they got outside, "that this is really happening. You're all so matter-of-fact about it, but the truth is that he is dying in there and I have to go and tell my mother." Helen's beloved little brother is dying. This brings the family together again
These heavy boots are not made for walking As mentioned before, Wonderguy gave me Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer as part of my "Goin' to New York" vibe. At first I was skeptical because I'm not particularly interested in child protagonists/narrators. But Oskar is a very special kid and we got