Book columnist Nina Potischman PO ’21 examines how Phoebe Gloeckner’s “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” successfully portrays a nuanced coming-of-age tale.
Books
Read it and weep: The perils of high school debate in Ben Lerner’s ‘The Topeka School’
Book columnist Nina Potischman PO ’21 dives into “The Topeka School,” examining its accurate portrayal of high school debate and surface-level ending.
Read it and weep: On breaking up with diets
Nina Potischman PO ’21 reflects on her relationship with food, the wellness industry and the effect Christy Harrison’s book “Anti-Diet” had on her life.
Assorted novelties: On not reading
Books columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 writes about the all-too-relatable feeling of reaching for the remote instead of a book. Read more here.
Read it and weep: To all the disappointing boys I’ve loved before
Nina Potischman ‘PO 21 discusses “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.” and its titular character, who should be a catchall for fake-deep boys.
Assorted novelties: How to discuss books, according to Rebecca Mead
Book columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 ruminates on Rebecca Mead’s “My Life in Middlemarch” and how we should talk about books.
Assorted novelties: My year of Zadie Smith thinking
After a year reading Zadie Smith, book columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 concludes that Smith’s writing, in forcing readers to take up another’s perspective, is mandatory quarantine reading.
Assorted novelties: Ocean Vuong wants to let books live
Book columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 praises Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” for its regeneration of language.
Assorted novelties: Iconoclasm, admiration and Patti Smith
Book columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 reflects on reading Patti Smith’s “Just Kids” and when admiration becomes a desire to emulate.
Assorted novelties: Between the Zoom bookshelves
Book columnist Anna Solomon PZ ’23 discusses how Zoom bookshelf backgrounds have become status symbols in the coronavirus pandemic.