Siel Ju's Blog, page 12
July 19, 2017
Five firsts: Dana Johnson on identity, code switching, and erasure
Every month, I interview an author I admire on her literary firsts.
July’s featured writer is Dana Johnson, author of Break Any Woman Down.
This award-winning short story collection��is complex and provocative, often starring characters in the margins of society. ��A black stripper tries to figure out what she wants in her��relationship with a controlling white porn star. A woman defiantly goes to bars alone, over her daughter���s protests. They���re stories of power and acquiescence, stubbor...
July 17, 2017
The TNB Book Club: Get literary gems delivered to your door for under $10
A couple weeks ago, I got home to find a little, nondescript package at my door — a cardboard fold-up marked only with my and the return addresses. Which made me wonder: Who is Fat Possum Records and why did they send me mail and could it be anthrax?
Of course, I immediately opened the package — and out came a copy of The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan. That was all that was in there. There wasn’t even a packing slip!
Who sent me the mysterious book?
It took me a while, but I remembered tha...
July 13, 2017
L.A. Girly Book Club: Fiction, food, and fun excursions
What is a book club without appies and drinks? Well, I guess it would still be a book club, technically. But if you prefer your literary discussions to take place over wine and cheese plates at a fun spot in the city, join the L.A. Girly Book Club.
The Girly Book Club’s actually a global group, with groups meeting from Seattle to Singapore, all discussing the same book. Most of the novels are by female authors, ranging from the more literary to chick-lit-ish to thrillers like Liane Moriarty’...
July 10, 2017
One book review in The Los Angeles Review
The very last print issue of The Los Angeles Review came in the mail a few weeks ago — and in the back pages is a book review of Nadine Darling’s She Came From Beyond! written by yours truly —
I’m so glad that The Los Angeles Review has now gone all digital (there’ll still be a best-of print annual), because that means the reviews get published in a more timely manner. Seriously — I turned in this review for LAR back in April 2016!
More than a year later, it’s finally made its way into prin...
July 7, 2017
3 Summer smoothie bowls for every diet — to match your current read
Summer is my favorite season because it’s the time for all things cool: sundresses, Shakespeare in the park, and smoothie bowls for breakfast.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I like to match my smoothie to my current read. Want to do the same while procrastinating on that novel you’re working on? Here are three recipes to get you started!
Yes, three recipes — not one — because if you’re like most Angelenos, you’re likely avoiding one macronutrient or another for some strange personal...
July 6, 2017
July giveaway: Dana Johnson’s Break Any Woman Down
The first time saw��Dana Johnson was on a panel at Skylight Books. I can’t remember what the panel was actually about, but I remember clearly what Dana said about her MFA experience — that she didn’t go right out of college, she waited a while until she was really hungry, ready. Then during her years at Indiana University, she wrote the stories in her first collection,��Break Any Woman Down, winner of the prestigious��Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
That’s pretty much the exact opp...
July 3, 2017
Cake Time interview with The Rumpus
Thank you to The Rumpus for interviewing me about Cake Time and writing! Here’s a quick excerpt from A Funny Inevitability: In Conversation with Siel Ju:
Rumpus: You ended the novel on this note of uncertainty with the character in this common adult situation, with someone who doesn’t want to define the relationship. And your main character is suppressing an urge to laugh at life’s absurdity. How did you decide that was where you wanted to end the novel?
Ju: I think I wanted to leave it like...
June 30, 2017
June book reviews: Mostly New York stories
Brief reviews of books by contemporary authors I read this month — along with photos of what I ate while reading. The list is ordered by the level my enjoyment:
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson (FSG, 1949)
“They want attention and praise and sometimes they’ll do almost anything.”
*
Fuck I love Shirley Jackson. I love the creepy ways she reveals the cruel violent minds of children especially — a boy excited by the thought of strangling then chopping up his little sister to bit...
June 28, 2017
Belletrist: Emma Roberts starts a book club for the age of Instagram
Do people read anymore? Apparently not, according to the headlines. The Washington Post reports that literary reading’s been victim to a long, steady decline (only 43% of Americans managed to read even a single literary work in an entire year!) — and The New Yorker reports statistics aren’t likely to improve with the next generation — since teenagers are too busy playing with their phones to read books.
But what if all those screen-addicted young people could be enticed to join an Instagram b...
June 23, 2017
#90X90LA: Summer heats up with daily lit events
Lit lovers in Los Angeles are going to be busy this summer, because a season-long series is set to bring the city 90 literary and cultural events in 90 days.
Yes, an event a day for 90 days, starting July 5! Called #90X90LA, this series is put together by local indie press Writ Large Press and friends.
This is actually the second summer Writ Large has done this. The press organized its first 90 in 90 series back in 2014. For 2017, #90X90LA returns “with more focused goals and vision in a cru...
