“We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast” by Jonathan Safran Foer

In “We Are the Weather,” Jonathan Safran Foer argues, essentially, that it is our moral imperative to adopt a vegan-before-six diet if we care at all about attempting to prevent the destruction of the human race through human-caused climate change. Although it’s a bit more complicated than that. Safran Foer begins by laying out the […]

“Man and Horse” by John Egenes

I think most of us horse people have harbored fantasies of taking off across country on horseback. John Egenes actually did it. “Man and Horse” is the story, told by John himself, of how he, as a callow 24-year-old, and his Quarter Horse Gizmo, as an even more callow 4-year-old, rode from California to Virginia […]

“A Girl Behind Dark Glasses” by Jessica Taylor-Bearman

A Girl Behind Dark Glasses Jessica Taylor-Bearman Being a teenager is difficult. It’s a lot more difficult when you’re suddenly saddled with a debilitating illness. For those of you who’ve seen Jennifer Brea’s award-winning documentary “Unrest,” “A Girl Behind Dark Glasses” is the story of Jess, the English ME sufferer featured in the film. It […]

“The Kickass Entrepreneur’s Guide to Investing” by Jeff Wiener

The Kickass Entrepreneur’s Guide to Investing Jeff Wiener Although I am not particularly an entrepreneur of any sort, and my investing tends to be pretty straightforward and in small amounts, I am interested enough in saving for retirement and financial independence to read the odd investing book, which is how I ended up being asked […]

“Lyme Madness” by Lori Dennis

Lyme Madness: Rescuing My Son Down the Rabbit Hole of Chronic Lyme Disease Lori Dennis Lori Dennis’s story is crazy–unless you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole into Lymeland, as she calls it. Then it all makes sense. She was transported to Lymeland when her son Matt became mysteriously ill after graduating from college and starting […]

“Sick: A Memoir” by Porochista Khakpour

Sick: A Memoir Porochista Khakpour Porochista Khakpour has always been sick. But why? Her story will be familiar to anyone who knows the standard Lyme narrative: years of mysterious ailments, frequent diagnoses of mental health problems, the treatment of which only made her problems worse, the growing worry that she was either crazy or dying […]

“Bite Me” by Ally Hilfiger #LymeDisease #Lyme #ChronicLyme

Bite Me: How Lyme Disease Stole My Childhood, Made Me Crazy, and Almost Killed Me Ally Hilfiger “Bite Me’ is one of a growing group of celebrity memoirs about their terrible experiences with Lyme disease. Some commentators have wondered how so many people rich people are getting Lyme disease, to which the answers might be […]

Art and Dissidence in Eastern Europe: #ArkadyBabchenko and #FreeSentsov

I wasn’t going to write about the circus surrounding Arkady Babchenko’s “murder” and sudden resurrection, which continues to unfold, but I can’t stop myself. It’s just too fascinating, and as far as I can tell the Western press has already moved back to the latest absurdity produced by Trump. So here we go: A bombshell […]

“Whatever I say is a half-truth”: Arkady #Babchenko and the Hybrid Truth of War Writing #BabchenkoAlive

As I posted yesterday, I’ve been caught up in the crazy, crazy, crazy story surrounding Russian writer Arkady Babchenko’s alleged murder and subsequent “resurrection,” , with the dramatic revelation at a press conference that the whole thing had been a sting operation and that Babchenko was still very much alive. Although I had not guessed in […]

Arkady Babchenko, One Soldier’s War, and Holy Fools

Arkady Babchenko As crazy fate would have it, today was the day that the article I co-wrote with WFU student Logan Stinson, “One Soldier’s War and the New Literary War Hero,” about the memoir by war correspondent and journalist Arkady Babchenko, was scheduled to come out. Crazy fate because yesterday afternoon a notification popped up […]

E. P. Clark: Author, Book Reviewer, and All-Around Literary Handiwoman

Non-Fiction