Colorlines Race and Culture Summer Reading List

Summer reading suggestions in poetry and fiction from Colorlines. To see more recommendations in history, children’s literature, activism, art, and memoir, read the full article.

If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar

If They Come for Us by Fatimah AsgharMuslim-American poet Fatimah Asghar navigates intergenerational violence, vulnerability and love in her collection If They Come for Us (Penguin Random House).

Don’t Let Them See Me Like This by Jasmine Gibson

Don't Let Them See Me Like This by Jasmine GibsonIn her debut poetry collection, Don’t Let Them See Me Like This, Jasmine Gibson unearths the brutality of capitalism, biopolitics and White supremacy and explores desire and the idea of political insurgency (Nightboat).

SWOLE by Jerika Marchan

SWOLE by Jerika MarchanJerika Marchan’s SWOLE is a lyric response to environmental racism and the irreversible impact of Hurricane Katrina (Future Poem).

Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez

Love War Stories by Ivelisse RodriguezLove War Stories is a collection of short stories about Puerto Rican women and girls and their understanding of love and its myths (The Feminist Press).

New Poets of Native Nations

New Poets of Native NationsNew Poets of Native Nations topples racist and essentialist assumptions about poetry written by Native American writers in an anthology filled with diverse styles and lyricism (Graywolf Press).

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

What We Lose by Zinzi ClemmonsZinzi Clemmons’ novel What We Lose, loosely based on the author’s experience of caring for her dying mother, is a fragmented story of grief and diasporic identity (Penguin Random House).

Kenyon Review’s Summer Reading List

Kenyon Review's Summer Reading List

David Lynn, Editor

Burnt Shadows by Kamila ShamsieBurnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie. Shamsie, a Pakistani writer who also lives in London, opens this powerful novel in Nagasaki, shortly before its destruction. The young woman protagonist, who is one of the few survivors, leaves Japan and continues her life, forever transformed, in India, Turkey, Pakistan, and beyond. This is not Shamsie’s most recent novel, but it is one of great power and lyrical beauty.

Book of Hours

Likewise, perhaps, Kevin Young has been publishing in a variety of genres, and his most recent book of poems, Brown, has received enthusiastic reviews. I’ve been reading his Book of Hours, however, an astonishing poetic engagement with grief, loss, and death. Superb and accessible poems.

 

Finally, the first novel by a young Kenyon author of extraordinary talent, Meghan Kenny. The Driest Season is spare, wise, lyrical, and potent. It’s a quick read and one I highly recommend.

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Muse-Feed Takes a Bookstore Road Trip

bookstores Jake Blucker
Photo by Jake Blucker

Muse-Feed is embarking on an 8-day cross country odyssey into the land of bookstores. Each day we will offer staff picks from some of the nation’s finest, most curated and eclectic booksellers. Our only frustration in planning this odyssey is that there are so many more wonderful bookstores we cannot reach in 8 short days. We may have to make it an annual event! Stay tuned.

Powell’s Picks of the Month June 2017

Kenyon Review’s Summer Reading List

What books are on your summer reading list? Each year, the Kenyon Review asks their staff, editors, and advisory board to share books they recommend or are looking forward to reading themselves. Here are some suggestions for your summer list from the Kenyon Review June 2017 Newsletter.

David Lynn, Editor

Moonglow summer readingTo my mind, Michael Chabon has for years purveyed tales full of wit and astonishment. Yet they have ultimately seemed gossamer, lacking a satisfying or illuminating substance. His latest, however, Moonglow, is a magnificent blend of memoir and fiction about his grandfather. I came away feeling nourished as well as deeply moved.

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift. Swift made his international reputation early on with Waterland and followed that dazzling performance with other notable fictions, including Last Orders. And yet it seems he’s rarely mentioned in the same breath as other contemporary British or Irish writers of the first rank such as Ian McEwan or Zadie Smith or Colm Tóibín. That should change with Mothering Sunday, a brief, crystalline, potent tour de force. Here is a master of the form playing a contemporary riff on Mrs. Dalloway. I loved it.

KR Reviews!

If these book recommendations aren’t enough for you, be sure to check out the new KR Reviews page on the KR website. New book reviews are posted every Friday.

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