Author Archives:
Pocket Review: The Morels by Christopher Hacker
The Morels Christopher Hacker Soho Press, 2013 Many years ago, I bought a house while I was living with my then-boyfriend. Things weren’t going well between us, to the extent that I felt more comfortable getting into a 30-year commitment with Chase Mortgage than with him. Still, we stayed together, in no small part because [...]
Open Letters Monthly, May 2013
It looks as though April showers—and snowstorms—have finally brought a few May flowers. With or without showers, we also have the May issue of Open Letters Monthly, which comes with some choice buds and blossoms of its own: Rohan Maitzen gives us a review of Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life… and then the review that [...]
On Grad School and Hair Camisoles
Damn school all to hell. Really. This month alone I missed the Pulitzers; Poem in Your Pocket Day, which loyal Like Fire readers (probably the only ones left) will know is a stone favorite of mine, and in fact all of Poetry Month; the opening of the DPLA—a uniquely contemporary combination of digitally, untetheredly global [...]
Pocket Review: Artist Animal by Steve Baker
Artist|Animal Steve Baker University of Minnesota Press, 2013 Whenever I would mention reading Steve Baker’s Artist|Animal, a series of interviews and essays about the use of animals in contemporary art, the response would be—almost to a person—“Oh, Damien Hirst.” Certainly that’s the first name that came to mind when I initially read the publisher’s blurb. [...]
Open Letters Monthly, April 2013
It recently occurred to me that at the institute of higher learning where I’m currently working on my MLS, there is a Fall semester, a Spring semester, and a Summer semester. The designation “Winter” is completely absent, and this is clearly no accident. Even though this isn’t one of the places that shows up regularly [...]
Pocket Review: All We Know: Three Lives by Lisa Cohen
All We Know: Three Lives Lisa Cohen Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012 As the title would indicate, All We Know: Three Lives is a triple biography—dense and cerebral, often reading like a lot of topics in search of a Master’s thesis—which turns out, in fact, to be a good quality. Lisa Cohen has a wide-ranging [...]
Ed Man Walking
Many of you are probably familiar with my complaint that Nothing Ever Happens In My Neighborhood. True, it’s one of the few remaining affordable places in New York where you’re only a few blocks from the subway; it’s safe, spacious, and relatively quiet; and you can get to most parts of Manhattan within an hour. [...]
A Satisfying Night for The Story Prize
Was it just me, or was this year’s Story Prize event an even better show than usual? Which is not to say that it ever isn’t good—Larry Dark and his finalists never fail to be interesting and lively. And, as I’m fond of pointing out, there are only three of them, which means even the [...]
Looking It Up: Dictionary Data in a Digital Age
You never see a discussion of online dictionaries without someone invoking the magical powers of browsing. It’s true, of course—who hasn’t discovered a really good word while looking for something else? You can’t argue with the expediency of the electronic search, but it does seem a shame to sacrifice that potential in the process. According [...]
Open Letters Monthly, March 2013
March certainly came in like a lion this year, the kind that threatened to eat me whole, bones and all. But I’ve managed to make it as far as Spring Break, which is cause for celebration right there. And rather than get drunk and run around topless down in Florida, I’m hoping to catch up [...]
