reviews

The Princess is the Monster Author: Melissa Bashardoust “There’s something restless growing within you. We’re all very curious to see what happens when it breaks free.” In a land far, far away where royals plan lavish weddings, divs (demons) attack beleaguered villages, and an evil king once became a monster, there lives a fair princess. She watches from the rooftops and hides in her garden while her brother, the Shah, goes on adventures and protects his people. You see, the princess is one of the monsters. Born poisonous, cursed by her mother’s youthful rebellion, everything and everyone princess Soraya touches withers [...]

A harrowing tale of female resilience  Author: Melanie Finn At the hot, pulsing center of Melanie Finn’s unnerving and assured feminist literary thriller is the unlikely hero of Rosie Monroe. We meet Rosie when she’s 18 and a freshman at Parsons School of Design. At first blush, she’s naïve, unfashionable, and starved for any scrap of affection following a brutal childhood in Lowell, Massachusetts. While volunteering at the Museum of Modern Art on a Sunday morning, she’s approached by Bennett Kinney. Older and more sophisticated, he’s wearing a starched shirt and tweed jacket and has a copy of Albert Camus’ [...]

A Feel-Good Speech Without a Soul Authors: Pope Francis and Austen Ivereigh So, I am not Roman Catholic, but my priest (Anglican) highly recommended delving into Pope Francis’ exegesis on how we (as a global people) can use the tragedy and aftermath of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to apply Christian principles and hope in order to confront and change the world’s evils. Normally, a book by the Pope isn’t a read that would make it to the top of my list, but my priest’s avowal of the powerful and moving book by Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black, was so transformative, that [...]