Hybrid Child: A Work of Wide-Screen Baroque Science Fiction by Mariko Ōhara
A question that came up during this year’s Best Translated Book Award was how much attention should be given to supplementary material? Or, put another way, how important is the context in determining how you feel about a book? An author’s or translator’s note, a forward or afterward by a famous fan, a podcast analyzing the text chapter by chapter or an interview with the … Continue reading Hybrid Child: A Work of Wide-Screen Baroque Science Fiction by Mariko Ōhara
Barrelhouse Magazine & Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated by Emma Ramadan
Two things. Thing #1 — I’ve been a listener to the Book Fight! podcast pretty much from the beginning. I own a tee-shirt. I frequently laugh out loud while listening to the two hosts, Tom & Mike, banter about NANOWRIMO, Kit-Kats, fan fiction and, occasionally, books. And it’s through them I learned about Barrelhouse, a magazine devoted to literature and pop culture (but not always … Continue reading Barrelhouse Magazine & Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated by Emma Ramadan
Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf
I’ve long been a fan of Andrea Wulf’s non-fiction. So when the follow-up to The Brother Gardener was announced in 2011, Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation (it’s a mouthful!), I immediately pre-ordered a copy. Despite my initial enthusiasm, though, it sat on the shelf. In the end, it took me eight years to read, and even then … Continue reading Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf
“The two central activities in my life — alongside writing — have been reading and gardening.” – Penelope Lively
Penelope Lively was born in 1933. She’s written over fifty books — novels for adults & children, plus some non-fiction. Life in the Garden is a collection of essays very like the series of gardening articles by the American writer Katherine S. White. Originally written for The New Yorker, White’s pieces were collected and published by her husband after her death in Onward and Upward … Continue reading “The two central activities in my life — alongside writing — have been reading and gardening.” – Penelope Lively
Return to GhostTown Farm
The San Francisco Chronical published this article on April 19, 2019 under the headline: Did Rising Rents Kill the Bay Area’s Urban Homesteading Movement? by Samantha Nobles-Black. The final two paragraphs give an update on Novella Carpenter, whose Farm City: The Education of An Urban Farmer had a huge impact on me when I reviewed it back in 2009. More than any other book, it … Continue reading Return to GhostTown Farm
READER AT LARGE 