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Reading Journal 2023: Silver, Sword and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American StoryAuthor: Marie Arana When one hears the term “America”, generally speaking there is a singular conception that comes to mind, one that centralizes the story of America geographically. This basic truism lies at the heart of Marie Arana’s harrowing history of “LatinContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Silver, Sword and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story”

Reading Journal 2023: The Night HouseAuthor: Jo Nesbo From the famed voice of the Harry Hole series comes a decidely different kind of story, one that at least protends to delve into straight up horror, albiet with his typical allegiance to crime and mystery/thriller. The book is written in three parts, each part bringing itsContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Night House”

Reading Journal 2023: A Haunted House And Other StoriesAuthor: Virginia Woolf It certainly can get a bit frustrating, especially when you get a few stories in to this collection, for Virginia Woolf’s prose to be as ambiguous and hard to narrow down as it is. There are moments where I wanted, or perhaps needed, someContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: A Haunted House And Other Stories”

Book Journal 2023: Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and The Shalom of GodAuthor: Matthew Lynch The tagline on the back cover poses the question “what do we do with a God who enacts and condones violence”. Narrowing in on two of the most essential narratives in the Bible associated with violence- the flood storyContinue reading “Book Journal 2023: Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and The Shalom of God”

Reading Journal 2023: The Color Purple Author: Alice Walker My feelings about this classic are complex. Real, but complex. Alice Walker’s exploration of the lives of African American women is both stark and raw in its appraoch. Nothing is buried here, and the book glides through many an uncomfortable reality without censorship. If that doesContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Color Purple”

Reading Journal 2023: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing In a Toxic CultureAuthor: Gabor and Daniel Mate Might be the biggest letdown of the year for me given its hype. That’s what happens when you wait forever for your Library hold to become available. And that is not to suggest that there weren’tContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing In a Toxic Culture”

Film Journal 2023: The Killer Directed by David Fincher Came into this one with high hopes. Found myself slightly let down. I feel like I understand what it wanted to be- a smart, patient, artsy thriller. I also feel like it thinks it’s better than it actually ends up being on all those fronts. AContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Killer”

Film Journal 2023: Anatomy of a FallDirected by Justine Triet At one point during this riveting legal thriller, one of the characters ruminates about the uncertainties surrounding the issues on trial, suggesting that when we are faced with doubts about what is true and what is not, at some point we simply need to chooseContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Anatomy of a Fall”

Reading Journal 2023: Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century Author: Matthew Prigge I visited Brewtown, or Cream City last summer. While I had been to and through Chicago a few times over the years, I had always been intrigued by its much smaller counterpart barely an hour north over theContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century”

Reading Journal 2023: Sleep Author: Lynn Biederstadt Picked this up at my local bookshop. A random paperback with an alluring and interesting cover. Felt like it would be a good fit for spooky season, and it turned out to be a decent page turner. It’s not out and out scary as far as horror goes,Continue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Sleep”