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If someone asked me to list the greatest living American novelists, Ward would be in my Top 5. Sing, Unburied, Sing is an absolute stunner, both lived-in and otherworldly, such aching and beautiful prose. And Ward can be blunt too, evincing the steps and steepness of life. Her most recent novel, Let Us Descend, is profound and painful, the story of an enslaved girl, of conjured humanity despite brutal circumstances. I love how Wardās stories fuse generations, those living and beyond; Iām always transfixed as a reader.
Related Recs
both by Toni Morrison. More heavy, intense, uncompromising than the descriptors in the ask but close enough ā any opportunity to rec Toni Morrison simply must be taken. She writes characters like no one else ā incredibly full of life. She writes about the complex experience of blackness and of girlhood/womanhood with incredible candor and care. Itās both extremely personal and always political.
TW: probably everything, so please be wary if you have sensitivities to traumatic shit.
May 13, 2024
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by Toni Morrison
Her treatment of time is so beautiful and lyrical. She pulls U into the past and itās like being swept away by a current or a riptide + I often didnāt notice it happening until I was well in it.
Itās a beautiful + harrowing read. I genuinely could not put it down (ended up finishing it in a day). Cried many times. Best thing Iāve read so far this year.
Jun 28, 2024
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Recommending someone read Toni Morrison is like recommending you also breath air or drink water.
I can't call on an especially extensive list to compare it to, but this might be the best book I've ever read. It also might be one of the saddest.
Oct 24, 2023
Top Recs from @carrie
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Real Life, Modern Romance, Lost in America, Defending Your Life. That quartet of films possesses so much DNA that I witness inĀ todayās comedy. I love Brooksā melding of earnest, trenchant, and silly. Heās always exploring the pitfalls of idealism and exposing self-awareness as a curse. Yet his films arenāt cynical, theyāre heartfelt.
Jan 16, 2024
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I know, itās obnoxious to be part of this trendy bandwagon. For all I know, youāre someone who has called to complain about the sound of people playing the game, which Iāve heard happens in certain neighborhoods. I get it. Itās essentially very loud and very big ping pong. If I can make one argument for taking up the sport, Iād say itās that the age range of people with whom you hang out will expand greatly. The other day, I played with a 10-year old, a 30-year old, and a 70-year old. Plus, itās a real-life interaction, and itās easy to come up short on those sometimes.
Jan 16, 2024
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Iāve never understood why this band is relatively obscure in America. Amber Webber is one of my favorite contemporary vocalists; her voice has body and ooze and just generally captures that forlorn hauntedness I like in a singer. āAntonia Janeā is a song I return to annually, then listen to on repeat for a few weeks. Their latest album, Nostalgia Killer, has another song that sounds like an instant classic called āWrecked.ā Lightning Dust started out as an offshoot of Black Mountain, who have more psychedelic leanings and who are worth checking out as well. Basically, take a figurative musical detour to Vancouver BC and see whatās going on.
Jan 16, 2024