In May 1980, the South Korean military fired upon students demonstrating against the closing of a university in Gwangju. The next two weeks saw militias and grieving mothers alike organizing to protest the brutality of the country's de facto president, Chun Doo-hwan. Human Acts, the third of Han Kang's novels to be translated into English, … Continue reading Human Acts: A Review
Combine Ernest Cline's Ready Player One with Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love, add just a dash of Milk Money, and what do you get? The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak, a light read about teenage programmers in late-20th-century New Jersey that proved to be unputdownable. On its surface, the plot of The Impossible Fortress is one … Continue reading The Impossible Fortress: A Review
The Mountain Goats lead singer John Darnielle is back with another nostalgic horror novel. Universal Harvester, the unrelated follow-up to Wolf in White Van, pitches readers into a VHS rental store in Iowa, where someone is taping cryptic and appalling scenes over the cassettes. Like its predecessor, Darnielle's second novel doesn't try to be flashy … Continue reading Universal Harvester: A Review
In 2003, an artist living her post-college life in New York City made it her mission to draw one thing every day. Vanessa Davis didn't always manage to meet her goals, but the resulting book, Spaniel Rage is well worth the effort. The most striking thing about Spaniel Rage is how relevant it feels today. … Continue reading Spaniel Rage: A Review
Did you know that the color orange was named for the fruit, and not the other way around? That historical quirk can make it difficult to find other words for orange. Languages other than English also use the same word to describe both the fruit and the color, and many orange pigments, such as gamboge, … Continue reading 8 Other Words for Orange