Ruth Ozeki on Making Peace With the Mirror
What did her face look like before her parents were born? Ruth Ozeki decided to find out.
Diane Leach
Diane Leach has a Master's Degree in English Literature from Humboldt State University. She writes for PopMatters.com and blogs at Theinsufficientkitchen.com. She can be reached at [email protected].
‘Rachel’s Blue’ Left Me Perplexed
There are times when a reviewer and book simply do not jibe.
‘Bukowski In a Sundress’ Is a Book You Should Judge By Its Cover
Kim Addonzio's memoir in essay ain't no summer beach read. Be very happy.
Living at the Movies With Dana Spiotta’s ‘Innocents and Others’
Spiotta's work is a vivid and enduring argument for the powers of imagination.
Kathryn Harrison and the Relative Safely of Middle Age
Kathryn Harrison's middle-aged transgressions in True Crimes are less egregious than those of youth. And that's a good thing.
Grief and Guilt in a Jewish Family
This postwar Jewish family is splintered by a child's death in Elizabeth Poliner's As Close to Us As Breathing
To Read ‘Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart’ Is to Fully Inhabit Haworth Parsonage
Claire Harman's biography of Charlotte Bronte sheds new light on a woman too often confounded with her beloved heroine.
‘Meathooked’ Gets Hung-Up on Its Own Problems
Beneath a thin veneer of science journalism lies a vegetarian manifesto in Marta Zarasta’s Meathooked.
Living Outside of Language with Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘In Other Words’
Lahiri's sense of alienation informs all of her writing and makes In Other Words (In Altre Parole), an achingly lonely, interior work.
Where Are All the Black Cooks in America’s Rich Culinary History?
Rich in culture and historical detail, Toni Tipton-Martin's The Jemima Code acknowledges a culinary legacy too long overlooked.
What You Eat Is You
We all must learn to eat. Yet how we are taught, by whom, and with what foods bode for a lifetime of good or ill. From First Bite to last, you won't be able to stop... until it's finished.
What Doesn’t Kill You Will Surely Give You Heartburn
When reading The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook, food safety and strange adaptations of classic recipes may come to mind.