Book of the Week: Experimental form explores violence
In the Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019/272 pages / memoir In The Dream House is a haunting look at psychological abuse and the ways in which it often goes unrecognized, particularly in queer communities. The book focuses on Machado’s own harrowing experience with intimate partner violence and points out how rarely abuse in same-sex relationships is acknowledged and discussed. In The Dream House represents Machado’s effort to...
Book of the Week: ‘Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts’
‘Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts’ Kate Racculia 2019 / 368 pages / Fiction Tuesday Mooney is private, hates socializing, and spends most of her time ferreting out potential donors for Boston General Hospital. Her job as a prospective donor researcher lets her puzzle out people and which buttons to push while safely shielding her from human interaction. But when Vincent Pryce, Boston’s most eccentric billionaire, dies – leaving behind...
Book of the Week: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
By Robert Dugoni Sam Hill, dubbed Sam Hell from his father’s reaction upon his birth, was born with ocular albinism causing his eyes to shine a bright red. His mother, a devout Catholic, believes it is God’s will that Sam lead an extraordinary life. This is more difficult for Sam to believe, especially when he begins at Our Lady of Mercy and is immediately met with bullying by the hands of other students as well as Sister Beatrice,...
Book of the Week: ‘Curious Toys’
Curious Toys Elizabeth Hand 2019, 336 pages Fiction In 1915, Pin, the daughter of an Italian fortune-teller at Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park, disguises herself as a boy to make a living as an errand-runner. She’s haunted by her sister’s recent murder and desperate to save money before she and her mother lose their employment at the end of the summer. Unbeknownst to Pin, a serial killer is haunting the rides of Riverview, waiting...
Book of the Week: ‘Make Time’
Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every DayJake Knapp and John Zeratsky2018, 287 pagesNonfiction Make Time is a must-read for anyone who feels overwhelmed with their to-do list. Too often our to-do lists keep growing like a life-sucking mole, yet what we accomplish isn’t what is most important. We spend our time on filler tasks, getting caught up in social media threads and binge watching Netflix, instead of focusing on the...
