I hugged this book when I finished it. I just couldn’t imagine putting the characters down & walking away from them. I’m still not ready to let go… Even if YA novels aren’t typically your thing, this deserves a read. It’s a novel written in verse, which is pretty damn cool to begin with. It’sContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: Clap When You Land”
Tag Archives: books
The Nitty Gritty: Charm & Strange
I read the best books without having any idea why I really picked them up. In this case, the copy of Charm & Strange that I have at the store has library markings on it. For some reason, that makes it much harder to sell. So I grabbed it out of a pile of booksContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: Charm & Strange”
The Nitty Gritty: She’s Come Undone
I picked up Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone on a whim. A mass market paperback version was just laying about in the store, in a pile of used books I was sorting to shelve. They don’t really sell for us, those little block-like books, so I figured nobody’d be itching to buy it anyway. SoContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: She’s Come Undone”
The Nitty Gritty: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
I’ve been thinking a lot about place lately: how where we are from constructs who we are. And I’ve been drawn to books that explore place as internal landscape. My mother’s family is from South Georgia. Although I grew up in Florida, I always considered myself a dis-placed Southerner. According to my Northern oriented friends,Continue reading “The Nitty Gritty: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood”
Nitty Gritty: 3 Pillars of Zen
This book is one I return to repeatedly. Partly for its clear message that, yes, enlightenment is possible for everyone. And partly because I find the discussion of how to meditate simple and refreshing. But my favorite aspect of 3 Pillars of Zen is absolutely the personal anecdotes, transcribed and laid bare for the reader,Continue reading “Nitty Gritty: 3 Pillars of Zen”
The Nitty Gritty: A Short History of Women
Holy Good Lord. My feelings about this book are complicated at best. If you’d asked me any time over the past several weeks (and yes, I actually stretched out the reading of this novel for w-e-e-k-s, even though its only 237 pages) what I thought, I’d have told you I hated it. With oomph. AndContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: A Short History of Women”
The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Hey, Kiddo.
True confession time: I’d never read a graphic novel before Hey, Kiddo. I know. But, of course, the first graphic novel I grab is a memoir that tackles super-heavy stuff like addiction, loss, and belonging. Because tights and capes are overrated. I picked Hey, Kiddo specifically because it addresses addiction. I often wonder about how to talk toContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Hey, Kiddo.”
The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Shakespeare’s Trollop
I didn’t even mean to read this book. Not really. I meant to read one of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books, because I think they’re Urban Fantasy, and I’m supposed to be checking that out. Like field research for the bookstore. But this one caught my eye instead. Because Shakespeare’s Trollop is about the best title ever. So, IContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Shakespeare’s Trollop”
The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Rubyfruit Jungle
The first time I read Rubyfruit Jungle, I was 19 years old, recently out, and head-over-heels in love with my girlfriend. I devoured the book. It was mouthy, cocky, and brash—most of the things I wasn’t but really wanted to be. But most importantly, Rubyfruit Jungle offered me the gift of seeing some of my own life experiences, myContinue reading “The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of Rubyfruit Jungle”
The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of I’m Still Here–Black Dignity in A World Made for Whiteness
Sometimes I get too big for my britches. That’s just cold hard truth. In a short, succinct, and damn powerful book, Austin Channing Brown managed to make me take an honest look at my relationship to whiteness and how I manage that in spaces where I’m working toward racial justice—hell, in any spaces at all.Continue reading “The Nitty Gritty: A Remotely Intellectual Review of I’m Still Here–Black Dignity in A World Made for Whiteness”
Remotely Intellectual 