Mark Stevens's Blog, page 19
April 6, 2021
R.J. Rubadeau, “Bound for Cape Horn”
A review of R.J. Rubadeau’s Bound for Cape Horn for the Four Corners Free Press.
March 30, 2021
John Gilstrap, “Crimson Phoenix”
A review of John Gilstrap’s “Crimson Phoenix” for the New York Journal of Books. Full review here.
February 14, 2021
Ayad Akhtar, “Homeland Elegies – A Novel”
Call it a memoir-novel mashup? Call it odd, unusual, witty, breezy, and different. Homeland Elegies is about Trump, about our sharply divided cultural and political landscape, about wealth, art, American opportunity, xenophobia, identity in a racist culture, and a dozen … Continue reading →
February 10, 2021
Q & A #86 – Zak Podmore, “Confluence”
Water and The West. The future of the Western United States is in inextricably linked to how we share this precious resource. We can think a healthy snowpack for a year or two might mean we don’t really have to … Continue reading →
February 7, 2021
Raven Leilani, “Luster”
The New Yorker raved. Last summer’s buzz was deafening. Barack Obama touted it on his 2020 reading list. Zadie Smith (Leilani’s tutor and mentor; she gets thanked in the acknowledgements) raved. Luster is pulpy. It has a get-a-load-of-this kernel at … Continue reading →
February 6, 2021
Jimmy Santiago Baca, “A Place to Stand”
The four simple words in that title do a lot of work for this powerful memoir, which is nearly impossible to put down. The title applies to so many moments in Baca’s harrowing life, whether a search for home and … Continue reading →
January 23, 2021
Tommy Orange, “There There”
“We’ve been defied by everyone else and continue to be slandered despite easy-to-look-on-the-internet facts about the realities of our histories and current state as a people.” “We did not move to the cities to die. The sidewalks and streets, the … Continue reading →
January 1, 2021
2020: Top Books
Highlights from reading in 2020. The order is irrelevant. These are from titles I read last year, not necessarily published in 2020. FICTION 1. K: A Novel by Ted O’Connell 2. The Quality of Mercy by Katayoun Medhat 3. Weather … Continue reading →
December 28, 2020
Alexis Schaitkin, “Saint X”
Strange to read Alexis Schaitkins’ Saint X so soon after Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine. Both start with giant heaps of energy, tension, and atmosphere. Both start with that feeling that you’re going to love every minute. Both, by the time they … Continue reading →
December 12, 2020
Colum McCann, “Apeirogon”
1. Apeirogon is a reading experience like no other. 2. It’s as if Colum McCann wrote a novel, smashed it into a thousand pieces, picked those pieces back up at random, and published them in a haphazard fashion. (Actually, it’s … Continue reading →
