Over winter break, I was asked by a family friend to recommend some literary readings for her four Chinese American children, ages 5, 7, 9, and 14. For the teenage daughter, I immediately thought of one of my favorite books, Maxine Hong Kingston’s classic memoir The Woman Warrior. But what of the younger kids? It …
During winter break I reread a book that continues to keep me engaged and anxious to turn the page with every read. Defending Jacob by William Landay, is the deceptively remarkable story of a 14 year old boy named Jacob who is accused of murdering a fellow classmate. When the bludgeoned body of the murdered …
I picked this up when it first came out and have found it to be a fresh perspective on something I talk about all of the time. Levitin takes a look at the different types of information that constantly surrounds us and provides a critical lens through which to view them. Wondering how someone can …
It has been just over three years since Seamus Heaney died. Considered one of the greatest Irish poets since Yeats, Heaney was awarded a Nobel laureate in literature in 1995 for his “works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.” For some reason, I cut out his obituary …
Over the summer, I started reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I found the book on my mom’s bookshelf and after hearing it circulate the Bowdoin headlines last year decided to read it for fun. I’ve never been much of a pleasure reader, but this book is great example of how …
Recently I’ve been reading about an Internet shopping company in China that is larger than Amazon, yet in the U.S.A. we are only just beginning to hear about it. The company, or three pillars, as it’s founder calls it, consists of Alibaba, Alipay, and Aliexpress. Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, by Duncan Clark, is …
After assigning Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: Gospel of an Icon, which discussed, among other things, how Oprah’s book club created a quasi-religious community, I was thrilled to be asked to be on this web page! I am currently reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Completed in 1868, The Moonstone is the first detective novel in English. …
Growing up in South Louisiana, the Black church was a large part of my childhood. My mother was incredibly religious; we were a member of three churches and Sunday was our busiest day of the week. As exhausting as that was, I am still reminded of the powerful sermons and the moving music. The Black …
When Breath Becomes Air is the impossibly beautiful story about the end of a gifted young life. This haunting and beautifully written metaphysical memoir seeks to understand the human condition, and its exploration of that question is equal parts Walt Whitman and Religio Medici. The story traces the life—and ultimate death—of Paul Kalanithi, MD, from …
Writing to his teenage son, Samori, Ta-Nehisi Coates tries to provide an answer to what he describes as the question of his life: “how one should live within a black body, within a country lost in the Dream.” The Dream is the mistaken, exclusionary belief of white people that they are white, which, Coates asserts, …