“Isn’t it a joke, how you can tell a story and other people hear a different story than the one you told?” “Reading became an intellectual pursuit, one of focus instead of escape.” In many ways, Makenna Goodman’s Helen of Nowhere and Missouri Williams’s Vivisectors are telling the same story – just recast with differentContinue reading “HELEN OF NOWHERE – Makenna Goodman”
Tag Archives: literature
CAPE FEVER – Nadia Davids
“I have learned not to tell stories that frighten children.” If you’ve been here a bit, you likely know that South African literature has a special place in this reader’s heart, with both Gordimer and Coetzee holding top rankings. When I read the summary of Nadia Davids’s debut novel, Cape Fever (Simon and Schuster 2026)Continue reading “CAPE FEVER – Nadia Davids”
THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter
“So, I followed her cue and became Guildenstern. I didn’t need to look at the lines to play the part. None of us did, except maybe Mom, who never learned the words ‘cause someone in the family had to be a spectator in the madness.” It’s fitting that I picked up Regina Porter’s The TravelersContinue reading “THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter”
WIZARD OF THE CROW – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
“Nyawĩra and Kamĩtĩ drifted from group to group till they came to a crowd around a storyteller with a single-stringed violin.” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o passed away on May 28, 2025. I didn’t know until recently, but perhaps that’s why Wizard of the Crow ( 2006 Random House) called out from my shelves of the unread.Continue reading “WIZARD OF THE CROW – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o”
A Girl Named Tommi 