reviews

“People are ready—not tomorrow, but now—to be vulnerable and undirected and intimate again.” Author: Courtney Maum Courtney Maum’s second novel, Touch, is a wickedly smart story about technology’s pervasive hold on our lives—and about what makes us most human. Sloane Jacobsen is a 39-year-old world renowned trend forecaster. (Yes, this is a real thing; Maum herself has worked as one.) She has just started a six-month consulting project at a progressive company in Manhattan, charged with planning ReProduction, a summit to celebrate the voluntarily childless. Having been called “the Ultimate Anti-Mom” by British Vogue, Sloane seems to be the perfect [...]

Losing it in the lab Author: Weike Wang In Weike Wang’s spare first novel, Chemistry, we are introduced to a young woman who is coming unhinged. She’s a whip-smart PhD candidate who tutors students in fluid dynamics and the properties of light, but she cannot identify or act on her own feelings to save her life. When the book begins, this young woman (who remains unnamed) has just received a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Eric. For various reasons, which Wang skillfully unspools over a taut 211 pages, Main Character declines. She loses Eric, her job, and her grip: “Eric [...]

One Woman's Sarcastic Journey Through Belief . . . and Urine Therapy By: Suzanne Morrison In love with every form of yoga from the circus like aerial yoga (my personal favorite), to yin yoga and the ever-accessible restorative yoga, to some kick-your-ass Hatha flow sequences, this book captured my eye right off the bat. I’m hardly your traditional yogi (indeed, after a season of ferocious wedding planning I am just now getting my zen back on full force). I don’t eat properly, I drink coffee almost as often as I breath, and while I’m spiritual (Christian) I’m skeptical about all the chakra stuff and prefer my yoga more exercise oriented with [...]