Meditations

“In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep…

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

What’s in a title? What does it mean to be a titular character? When is a title just…

The Vegetarian

When I finally turned the final page of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, I was torn: there was a part of me that found the book unsettling, and another that found it mesmerizing. A few hours later, having ruminated slightly upon the effect it had on me, I came to describe it with another, more apt word…

Towards the end of The Apprentice, Jacques Pépin describes his current home kitchen, custom-built to his desires after a lifetime spent in the culinary industry. The kitchen as he describes it is dreamy: everything in its right place, with an abundance of counter space and the best tools for the task.

Fates and Furies

Early in Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, a cat watches an outdoor dinner party, and we are privy to the cat’s thoughts of…