Danny Ramadan starts and ends his memoir asking his reader to receive and hold his words with care, since he's getting personal in ways that are diffiDanny Ramadan starts and ends his memoir asking his reader to receive and hold his words with care, since he's getting personal in ways that are difficult for him. That rawness and vulnerability really came through, not only in the way he shares painful memories, but in the way he discusses his joy, criticisms, disappointment, love, and more. This was just so beautiful. I loved how often Danny broke the fourth wall in explaining why he's choosing to withhold information in some parts, why he chose to focus on different elements in others, and how difficult the process of writing this was. This really moved me!...more
There Are Rivers in the Sky tells the story of three characters across continents and centuries, with seWow. What an incredible journey this book was!
There Are Rivers in the Sky tells the story of three characters across continents and centuries, with seemingly no connection between them at first: Arthur, an impoverished though gifted boy in Victorian England, Narin, a Yazidi girl in modern-day Turkey, who comes a long line of female faqra, or seers, and Zaleekhah, a middle-aged hydrologist going through a divorce in modern-day London. Like water swirling in currents, Elif's narrative takes us between their lives, as their stories seem to converge then drift apart, with little drops of commonality flowing through them. As much as this book is about Arthur, Narin, and Zaleekhah, it is the overarching story of a water droplet and the memory it retains; it explores how stories, like the Epic of Gilgamesh, travel through time and leaves an impact through centuries; it's concerned with humanity's destruction of the natural world and the history that disappears with it. I sunk into this novel, and found myself lost in its current. An exciting upcoming release by an author whose voice is lyrical, wise, and comforting!...more
This book is going to change the way I rate books 5-stars... it's raised the standard for what an excellent book looks like for me. I'm completely bloThis book is going to change the way I rate books 5-stars... it's raised the standard for what an excellent book looks like for me. I'm completely blown away...more
Simply beautiful. It's slow moving, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the last fifty pages. You think you know where this book is going but then iSimply beautiful. It's slow moving, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the last fifty pages. You think you know where this book is going but then it surprises you, with an ending that's perfection. Well-written, well-crafted, a novel of time and place. Not for everyone, but an outstanding portrayal of longing, lust, political tension, and so much more. ...more
SIX STARS. and to think I thought the reviews were lying. I heard, and read, “I don’t care about basketball but I loved this!” so much, and I was skepSIX STARS. and to think I thought the reviews were lying. I heard, and read, “I don’t care about basketball but I loved this!” so much, and I was skeptical. I knew I would like this because it’s Hanif, but I thought I’d have to force interest a little bit – push through a layer of basketball-jargon I didn’t care about to get to the meat of it. I was so wrong, and I’m so happy. This book is completely and entirely deserving of its overwhelming early praise, the vast-majority five star reviews, the raving from friends… I mean just look at me!!! I am *not* the target audience for a book about 90s/00s basketball in Columbus, Ohio, but I am still saying with my whole chest that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read.
This book is divided into five sections: a pregame and four quarters. Each quarter starts with the clock at 12:00, and slowly counts its way down to the buzzer. By 11:30, you know what Hanif is talking about. By 10:00, you know what Hanif is really talking about. And by 2:00, you get what he was really, really talking about all along. And then by 0:00, you finally get it. Anyone who’s read Hanif knows what I’m talking about. Hanif writes in layers so closely, poetically, precisely intertwined that it looks like a single image until he starts slowly peeling them away, revealing metaphor after connection after insight. Which is why, for example, in the third quarter, Hanif speaks about Lebron leaving the Cavs for the Heat in 2010, while also talking about heartbreak, longing, begging, and desperation, and all the different ways these feelings have manifested in Hanif’s own life, in his friends’ lives, in his city, in great music.
Out of the three books of his I’ve read, this was easily my favourite, and that’s saying lots because I loved the other two. But out of them all, this is the most autobiographical. Through the book, you watch Hanif grow up from a boy at his kitchen table, staring at the beads of sweat on his dad’s bald head, to a high schooler chasing Kenny Gregory’s car down the street with his friends, to a young adult incarcerated watching the Cavs on the prison TV, to a grown man homesick, watching Lebron’s return to Cleveland from a city he doesn’t want to be in, crying because he wants to be home.
I could not speak more highly of this book. No one writes like Hanif. Read this, even if you’re like me and absolutely not cool enough to love this as much as you did. ...more
I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!! I'd say this was even better than Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead - the same hilarious obI LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!! I'd say this was even better than Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead - the same hilarious observations and weirdly lovable characters and horribly awkward situations, but the storyline for this one was more developed. At first it all feels a bit random but it comes together wonderfully, with an ending that made me emotional. I love Enid. This was the perfect Christmas read!...more
So immediately impactful & so beautiful. I'd listen to each chapter on audio then follow up re-reading my physical copy, soaking in every word. So immediately impactful & so beautiful. I'd listen to each chapter on audio then follow up re-reading my physical copy, soaking in every word. ...more
I loved Montell’s previous book (Cultish) and I dare say this was even better. In The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell breaks down the various cogI loved Montell’s previous book (Cultish) and I dare say this was even better. In The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell breaks down the various cognitive biases that impact us in our post-COVID, hyper-online world. In “Are You Our Mother, Taylor Swift?”, she examines why we’re led to exalt public figures on a god-like level, and then get angry when they don’t match the impossibly-high pedestal they never asked to stand on in the first place. In “A Toxic Relationship is Just a Cult Of One”, she speaks about how social media makes us value the story of our lives more than the lived experience of it, and why we might invest even *more* energy and time into a situation that isn’t working just to maintain the narrative we’re trying to tell. If you’ve ever felt like the universe sent you a divinely ordained message in the form of a Tiktok tarot reading, felt super confident you can recreate that Pinterest DIY only to end up with a pile of garbage, or repeated a fact you heard without fully knowing if it's true, this book is FOR YOU. And, let’s be real, we’ve all been there.
Montell doesn’t speak about these things from a holier-than-thou, self-help and betterment perspective. She’s candid and genuine in these essays, speaking lots from her own experience. She talks first-hand about having been in a toxic relationship and not being able to leave, about getting sucked into the world of ‘beauty influencers’ and spending all her money on unnecessary products, about having a presence on social media even when she knows how harmful it can be. But she ties these experiences into a well-researched, well-articulated, and relatable piece of writing that perfectly captures our cultural moment, untangling the complicated web of why it feels so hard to just exist as a human being right now. ...more
This book was heartbreaking. The central story of this novel is of a young Palestinian girl who is captured and assaulted by Israeli soldiers, but yetThis book was heartbreaking. The central story of this novel is of a young Palestinian girl who is captured and assaulted by Israeli soldiers, but yet we never hear her voice directly. Instead, we read about the events as they happen in the present in 1949 through the perspective of the army captain, and then several years later through the perspective of another young woman who learns about this story and becomes fascinated by it, travelling to the scene of the crime to learn more about it. Both in the past and present, we're witness to the reality of life in Palestine through the impenetrability of its borders, the dehumanization of 'the other', and unrelenting reminders of violence: the sound of bombs, the howling of dogs, officers carrying weapons, the smell of gasoline. The fact that we never hear the girl's voice directly goes to show how Palestinian womens' voices have long been silenced, relegated to being simply a 'minor detail' in the course of history. Yet, even in the present when women do have some more ability to speak their stories, to acknowledge the stories of the women who came before them, and to seek out answers to questions never asked, this novel, especially its ending, forces us to ask: does this really change the story being told in the first place? Such a powerful, bleak, and poignant novel that humanizes this crisis we learn about in the context of history and read about in the news, but often feel so distant from, at least here in North America. ...more
Hanif Abdurraqib is a treasure. Reading usually feels like a singular interaction between the writer and the text, or the writer and the reader, or thHanif Abdurraqib is a treasure. Reading usually feels like a singular interaction between the writer and the text, or the writer and the reader, or the reader and the text. But the way Hanif writes feels so much more expansive: he explores his own memories, he invites you to explore yours, he presents a subject and then ties that subject, whether it be an artist or an album or an event, with the broader cultural moment surrounding it, and then nestled into all of this is a point. Hanif *always* has a point, he always has something to say, he doesn’t just write for the sake of writing. What results is a work that feels so exciting – it’s something you want to talk about and share. It makes you put the book down and play that song you haven't listened to in years. The love, knowledge, and passion Hanif has for what he writes about comes through every sentence. I am genuinely so sad to be finished this, because there's no one else to fill the void... his writing is unlike anything I've ever read. IT'S JUST SO GOOD !!...more
The way that this book held me in a trance... I was only 50 pages in when I woke up this morning and now I'm finished and I don't really know how to fThe way that this book held me in a trance... I was only 50 pages in when I woke up this morning and now I'm finished and I don't really know how to feel but all I know is I couldn't put it down....more
I can't get over how absolutely beautiful this book was. An interwoven story of Y-Dang Troeung's life, the story of her family, and a larger portrait I can't get over how absolutely beautiful this book was. An interwoven story of Y-Dang Troeung's life, the story of her family, and a larger portrait of the Cambodian genocide, migration, and motherhood told in fragments. This was a book that took Y-Dang Troeung her entire life to write, but it has added weight as a book she finished in the final months of her life, directed largely towards her 4 year-old son, trying to capture everything she wants him to know about his family and his heritage that she knows she'll never be able to tell him directly. This reminded me lots of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous in its poetic language and the way it speaks of war, migration, and family. A rare and precious book that I think everyone should read...more
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