Reading "The Summer Book" in Winter
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Essays and cultural criticism shaped by the writers, artists, places, and ideas that have influenced my thinking. These pieces combine personal encounter with close reading to examine how taste and judgment develop over time.
A Little Something Extra
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Over the holidays, I read Plain and Simple, a book by the late Sue Bender, an artist and psychologist who became obsessed with Amish quilts and dolls, and found a way to live among their makers. Their reality sometimes unsettled her—but it only deepened her appreciation.
Read More"Mouchette": The Privilege of the Wretched
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Mouchette, a French peasant girl whose name means “little fly,” is a pest to the people around her. Scrunched up and defensive, she clomps through a rough world where words have little value—even the ones that might save her life.
Read MoreHere Comes "The Sun"
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After The Sun printed my letter about an essay that moved me, I saw how the magazine keeps readers and writers in conversation about the human spirit.
Read MoreThe Quiet Persistence of Poet Spencer Reece
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Hundreds of rejections later, he sold something. That poem changed his life.
Read MoreThe Book Club That Didn't Read Me
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