reviews

Childhood at war... Author:  Svetlana Alexievich It took me months to read this book.  Not just a few, but many.  It may seem strange, but I really can’t think of a way to recommend the book more strongly.  There are exactly 101 stories in Last Witnesses.  Almost every one of them is so gut-wrenchingly powerful that you really shouldn’t plan on reading more than two in sitting.  I found myself avoiding the book at times, knowing that each encounter would be so profoundly upsetting, maybe more than I could handle. Based on interviews with adults who were children during World [...]

Greatest hits from beginning to end... Author:  Nick Lane It’s happened literally millions and millions of times, yet scientists have never been able to actually see it.  The countless moments when one species becomes two – never to reunite – form the essential scaffolding that the entire science of biology is built upon.   While it’s hard to even define when speciation has actually occurred, there undoubtedly have been some moments that have been more profound than others.  In Life Ascending, British biochemist Nick Lane has selected his top ten favorites, spanning from life’s very beginning to its bitter end. While [...]

Two sisters, two Americas: a twinhood split down the middle Author: Brit Bennett I can’t think of any other new release in fiction this year that is as heartbreakingly relevant as Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. Her marvelous follow-up to The Mothers is a saga that digs into matters of race, sexuality, and the nuances—both seen and unseen—of one’s identity. It is an important and weighty story, but Bennett’s writing style, which flows as smooth as the river running through Mallard, Louisiana, will mesmerize readers from the very first page. “The river would right her. She would stand on the [...]