What We Are Reading Today: ‘Love in the Time of Self-Publishing’

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Updated 18 June 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Love in the Time of Self-Publishing’

Author: CHRISTINE M. LARSON

As writers, musicians, online content creators, and other independent workers fight for better labor terms, romance authors offer a powerful example—and a cautionary tale—about self-organization and mutual aid in the digital economy.

In “Love in the Time of Self-Publishing,” Christine Larson traces the 40-year history of Romancelandia, a sprawling network of romance authors, readers, editors, and others, who formed a unique community based on openness and collective support.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Words Under the Words’

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Updated 14 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Words Under the Words’

Author: Naomi Shihab Nye

Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s book “Words Under the Words” is a moving and deeply personal collection of poetry that seamlessly weaves together themes and threads of identity, displacement and the resiliency of the human spirit.

Born to a Palestinian father and American mother, Nye often uses her upbringing as inspiration for her poems.

“The Traveling Onion,” is perhaps my favorite poem in the book. She uses a quote from “Better Living Cookbook” to set the stage. She writes: “When I think how far the onion has traveled just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise all small, forgotten miracles, crackly paper peeling on the drainboard, pearly layers in smooth agreement, the way knife enters onion, and onion falls apart on the chopping block, a history revealed.”

She then writes: “And I would never scold the onion for causing tears … how at meal, we sit and eat, commenting on texture of meat or herbal aroma but never on the translucence of onion, now limp, now divided, or its traditionally honorable career: for the sake of others, disappear.”

The poem about the onion is not just about an onion, it is about much more. Many of her other poems offer the same food for thought, although not always when exploring cuisine or culture.

Her poetry often touches on themes of family, memory, displacement and finding common ground in different worlds. Known for her crisp, clear and evocative language, Nye captures the beauty of everyday life and the emotional nuances within personal and cultural histories. “Words Under the Words” is a powerful exploration of identity and seeking community connection.

Her language is simple but not too simplified. She makes everyday moments and objects feel significant and special while allowing us all to look into her life as we collectively cut a slice of life and devour the deeper philosophical and political issues that still ring true today, nearly 30 years after she published the book in 1995.

The collection stands out for its emotional honesty and its ability to connect personal experiences with the broader social and political contexts — especially around themes of exile and belonging. It is still relevant today.

The woman on the cover is Nye’s grandmother, who was a lively and significant figure in her work.

 

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Top Ten Ideas of Physics’

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Updated 14 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Top Ten Ideas of Physics’

Author: ANTHONY ZEE

Could any discovery be more unexpected and shocking than the realization that the reality we were born into is but an approximation of an underlying quantum world that is barely within our grasp? This is just one of the foundational pillars of theoretical physics that Zee discusses in this book.

Join him as he presents his Top Ten List of the biggest, most breathtaking ideas in physics — the ones that have fundamentally transformed our understanding of the universe.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Discrete and Computational Geometry’

Updated 13 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Discrete and Computational Geometry’

Authors: Satyan L. Devadoss and Joseph O’rourke 

“Discrete and Computational Geometry” bridges the theoretical world of discrete geometry with the applications-driven realm of computational geometry, offering a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to this cutting-edge frontier of mathematics and computer science.

Now fully updated and expanded, this richly illustrated textbook is an invaluable learning tool for students in mathematics, computer science, engineering, and physics.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Trouble with Happiness’

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Updated 13 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Trouble with Happiness’

  • Each story delves into the inner lives of regular people

Author: Tove Ditlevsen

I don’t often read fiction; real-life stories are much more interesting and usually compelling enough. However, Danish author Tove Ditlevsen’s work intrigued me. On a recent trip to Denmark, I picked up a copy of “The Trouble with Happiness and Other Stories” and spiraled into her dark world — in the most enlightening way.

A collection of short stories, each with its own moody and simple sensibility that oozes authenticity, the book is small but mighty. Known for her deeply psychological and slightly melancholic writing style, Ditlevsen brings us along for the lonely, disappointing, and often fleeting moments of happiness.

The book is aptly named.

Each story delves into the inner lives of regular people. Her chosen narratives of everyday women are a powerful exploration of human vulnerability and longing for connection. The writing is witty and drenched in emotional honesty. It is quite depressing at times, as the author indeed struggled with depression during her 59 years of life, before her death in 1976.

The version I read was translated by Michael Favala Goldman. Although I was unable to read it in its original form, this translated version allowed me to get a sense of who Ditlevsen was. Many of the stories in this book were published previously, in the 1950s and 60s, albeit in slightly different iterations, in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker, Apple Valley Review and Hunger Mountain Review. But to have them contained in one book was powerful, and I had a hard time putting it down.

In “The Cat,” Ditlevsen plainly writes about ordinary people and places but infuses the mundane with her poetic sense: “They sat across from one another on the train, and there was nothing special about either of them.”

She continues: “They weren’t the kind of people your eyes would land on if you tired of staring at the usual scenery, which appears to rush toward the train from a distance and then stand still for a second, creating a calm picture of soft green curves and little houses and gardens, whose leaves vibrate and turn grayish in the smoke streaming back from the train, like a long billowing pennant.”

The stories are short and sharp, cutting you in a way a knife cannot.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘I Was Working: Poems’

Updated 12 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘I Was Working: Poems’

Author: Ariel Yelen

Seeking to find a song of the self that can survive or even thrive amid the mundane routines of work, Ariel Yelen’s lyrics include wry reflections on the absurdities and abjection of being a poet who is also an office worker and commuter in New York.

In the poems’ dialogues between labor and autonomy, the beeping of a microwave in the staff lounge becomes an opportunity for song.