There is so much to learn here, not just about Glass, but about ourselves—how to live, how to learn, how to create. Towards the end of the book, Glass talks about his work on his Cocteau Trilogy in which he says, of Cocteau, that he “is teaching about creativity in terms of the power of the artist, which we now understand to be the power of transformation” (378) The same can be said of Words Without Music.
A review of Finding Love by Carolyn Martinez
Martinez’ new book, Finding Love Again, is another book full of stories about people who have made a go of love on their second or more attempts. Though the stories are presented without too much editorial interruption, Martinez provides a kind of cumulative wisdom as the book progresses, building up to practical tips to go along with such a wealth of anecdotal advice that it’s hard not to feel like it’s entirely possible to find true love, at any age.
Interview with Joshua Braff
The author of The Daddy Diaries talks about his new book and its parallels with his own life, about the challenges of drawing from real life for his fiction, about the dearth of stay-at-home dads in fiction, about being a house-husband, the challenges of writing at home with children, about where, and how he writes, and lots more.
A review of The Chocolate League by Rah and Jahi Humphrey
During my daily reading, Osage County First Grade followed the adventures of The Chocolate League as they found fun summer things to do despite the closure of their park. Water balloon fights, and jump rope, and running games with chase and tag, pranks and dares, and visits to the candy store, parents sitting on the front stoop, hurrying home as dusk is falling fill pages illustrated with bright and colorful drawings provided by Fanny Liem.
A review of The Age of Magic by Ben Okri
However, if you let go of preconceptions about what a novel should be and how it’s meant to function, and read the work, instead, as a literary exploration of the unseen, beyond the world of logic and progression, then the work becomes much more powerful, yielding a transcendence that moves beyond the flow of ordered progression. The work moves in pulses; in moments of magic that become “elixirs, life renewed in the laboratory of Arcadia” or humanity’s highest self.
Interview with Deborah Harkness
The author of the newly released paperback version of The Book of Life returns to The Compulsive Reader to talk about the intersection of science and magic, about the themes of her book, the value of fantasy, the story behind her book, her settings, about lost books, and lots more.
A review of Chez l’arabe by Mireille Silcoff
The eight stories in Mireille Silcoff’s collection, Chez l’arabe have a common theme, the shock and confusion we feel when faced with a nasty twist of fate. The central character of “Champ de Mars” is very human in her belief that the terrible pain she suffered over her child’s death “would absolve her from future hardship…she’d absorbed the blow, remained upright. Surely, for this, some kind of immunity?” Alas, life seldom works out that way, though some of Silcoff’s fictional characters fare better than others.
A review of Devadatta’s Poems by Judith Beveridge
Devadatta’s Poems is a delightful book of poetry full of the kind of mischievous fun that comes with exploring a fallen character: an anti-hero already relegated, historically, to obscurity. Beveridge’s Devadatta is as compelling as he is repellant and his voice is one that will amuse, enlighten, and enrich readers.
Interview with Kim Korson
The author of I Don’t Have a Happy Place talks about her book and the impact of writing about such heavy topics, the things she’s learned, the structure of her book, about writing in the voice of teenaged Kim, the comedians who have inspired her, and lots more.
A review of How to be Another by Susan Lewis
The narrative in this collection exists in that there is no narrative; we find ourselves instead in the pairing of clashing words that, like a musical score, creates not an arch, but rather the opening of a flower. Each prose poem is handled with delicate care, and yet, Lewis is able to formulate each in a sense of divine carelessness. She redesigns familiar clichés into new architecture, allowing a close proximity to the reader throughout each section.