Category: reading
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Recent Writing
I had some writing published around the web (and one in print!) in the last few months: I reviewed Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance for The Athenaeum Review. It appeared in their print issue and online here. I reviewed Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed: A…
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October Reads
I prioritize spooky reads in October for obvious reasons, although I never get through as many as I’d like. Still, the books in this list (with one non-spooky interruption) were worthy of reading during the most haunted month of the year.
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September Reads
I somehow let my September reads go by, but fear not! I certainly read, though I may have been a little in over my head to reflect.
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“Re-mystifying Language” in The Adroit Journal
One of my favorite memoirs published this year, E.J. Koh’s The Magical Language of Others, has stuck with me since I read it in May. I reviewed it for The Adroit Journal, which you can now read here. I highly recommend this memoir of family, language, and loss.
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August Reads
August was a long month and great for staying in to read far and wide. I took advantage, though I am ready for cooler weather, only so that I can take the books outside for a change.
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July Reads
Hard to believe we’re in the second half of this very long year. In July, I went back to work and started semester reading for my MFA program. Both of those life changes slowed me back down to five books, as well as how much time each of these books demands (in a good way).
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June Reads
My monthly reading average jumped in June, including two by activist and abolitionist Angela Y. Davis, both of which I covered in my anti-racist reading series. I started my MFA at Antioch University, where the residency was on Zoom for ten consecutive days. Instead of slowing me down, I was happy to sit with a…
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What to Read Next: Anti-Racism and Abolition
Since my last post on recommended books on racism, more Black Americans have been killed by and within racist institutions: Rayshard Brooks, Riah Milton, Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells, and Robert Fuller, among others, should be alive today. I am a firm believer that white people should educate ourselves and reach out to educate other white Americans,…
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What to Read Next: Anti-Racism & Religion
As the nation reels from the most recent deaths brought on by white supremacist ideology in practice, many people are finding ways to use their time and resources to advocate for justice. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless other Black Americans should be alive today. Throughout my life and on this blog in…
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May Reads
This month, I finally broke my five-book rule, in part because I read some shorter books and also because I found myself bouncing between longer books. If you’ve missed any of my past months, you can find them here: January, February, March, and April.
Ben Lewellyn-Taylor 