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On the joy of reading children's literature as an adult |
The Thread's Must-Read |
| "We Are Okay” by Nina LaCour Buy this book We meet Marin as she’s mocking up a fake bulletin board in her college dorm. She’s cutting pithy sayings out of magazines and jotting down lyrics that she likes, aware even as she does it that it won’t camouflage her loneliness from her best friend, who's arriving for a visit. “Each paper is the same white,” Marin realizes. “It looks desperate.” I thought I’d long since forgotten what it was like to show up at my new college in upstate New York, knowing no one, listening to the happy chatter of the girls from the City who’d all gone to high school together. I remember thinking of freshman year as a character test: “I can endure anything for four years and then I’ll be free to do whatever I want.” As it turned out, I loved college. And leaving the safe circle of friends from home was good preparation for the career moves I would make across the country. Marin has also left a close friendship — a first love, really — to go to school on the other side of the country. But she’s carrying a heavy load of unresolved grief that’s so tender any reminder of home is unbearable. “I have only just learned how to be here,” she thinks. “Life is paper-thin and fragile. And sudden change could rip it wide-open.” The story of those slow-healing wounds unfolds over a long snowy weekend in "We Are Okay," and although I saw where this book was headed, Nina LaCour wrote with such tenderness and grace that I blinked away tears through the final pages. -K.M. |
| This Week on The Thread |
| Four ways to improve your life through nonfiction The latest crop of nonfiction offers gentle, practical and irreverent advice for living your best life. Dive in. More |
| A fierce, fresh take on the 'hell' of coming to America "Sour Heart" by Jenny Zhang Buy this book The stories in Jenny Zhang's powerful debut collection center on the violent, sometimes disturbing experiences of young Chinese-American girls growing up in Queens, NY. More |
| The backstories of the books you loved growing up "Wild Things" by Bruce Handy Buy this book Bruce Handy's new book takes an emotional, intuitive look at the world of children's books, from "Goodnight Moon" to "Charlotte's Web," which he calls "a mastery novel of ideas" about life and death. More |
| How to conclude an award-winning sci-fi trilogy "The Stone Sky" by N.K. Jemisin Buy this book N.K. Jemisin won Hugo Awards for the first two volumes of her "Broken Earth" trilogy. "The Stone Sky" is a powerful, timely finale to this story of a world built on oppression and exploitation. More |
| The case for short stories: "How can you not be satisfied with this one perfect, delicious thing?" "The Tower of the Antilles" by Achy Obejas Buy this book Bookseller Kathryn Harper tore through "The Tower of the Antilles" in two days. The short story collection is "10 different, interesting pieces that you put together," she said. More |
| The life of an editorial cartoonist “The First and Only Book of Sack" by Steve Sack Buy this book Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Steve Sack has captured six presidents as well as countless governors, senators and representatives in his career. His new book is a look back at political history, in caricature. More |
| A look at war's aftereffects through words and photos "Shooting Ghosts" by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O'Reilly Buy this book Marine Sgt. T.J. Brennan suffered from memory loss after being injured by a grenade in Afghanistan in 2010. Finbarr O'Reilly captured the event on film. Now the two men have written a memoir. More |
| When books become a bridge out of grief “The Futilitarians" by Anne Gisleson Buy this book Anne Gisleson was reeling from a series of family tragedies when she began meeting with friends to discuss books and life in post-Katrina New Orleans. Her new book chronicles a year of those meetings More |
| A novel of commitment, culture and the struggle to conceive “Stay with me" by Ayobami Adebayo Buy this book Set in Nigeria in the 1980s, Ayobami Adebayo's debut novel tells the story of a couple who desperately want to have a child, in a society where that's what's expected of them. More |
| Don't miss Talking Volumes 2017 Get tickets to see Sherman Alexie, Jacqueline Woodson, Amy Tan, Ron Chernow and Dan Brown at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul this fall. Get tickets |
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