Somewhere around “Disney Princess Pageant,” I start to cry. “I’m Snow White / We’re telling the truth…. On the Internet / This is the best party I’ve ever been to.” If I were a gambler, I’d bet that the magic infused throughout Becca Klaver’s poetry collection, Ready for the World, released in February 2020, made […]
Local book reviews
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Nest’ by Lynne Nugent
As the world shuts down and ultimately starts to reopen, Iowa City circles its figurative wagons, our institutions working to keep local artists and retailers engaged. Little Village reaches out for book reviews. Prairie Lights delivers books for reviewers right to their doors. I have the privilege of reading Nest, a series of heartfelt essays […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘An Ice Cream Truck Stalled at the Bottom of the World’ by Jon Cone and Rauan Klassnik
Most plays tell a story, taking audiences for a ride of plot twists and turns, perhaps inspiring laughter or tears or heartbreak along the way. Other plays take a different road, focusing more on tone and mood — a journey evoking difficult-to-process feelings and challenging audiences in ways that stick long after the play is […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Traitor’ by Dennis Green
An intriguing idea, sympathetic characters and a fast-moving plot make Traitor by Iowan Dennis Green a great read for lovers of exciting sci-fi. Traitor is the final book in a trilogy that began with Traveler and Prisoner, and though I have not read the first two, I thoroughly enjoyed the third. However, I would recommend […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Real Life’ by Brandon Taylor
In his debut novel, Real Life, released Feb. 18, Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Brandon Taylor follows the story of Wallace, a science graduate student in the Midwest who is in search of what he really wants. The book is set over the course of just three days, and it’s filled with betrayals, new romance and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘A Visit to Lost Otter Farm’ by Cory Christiansen, illus. by Mackinzie Rekers
‘A Visit to Lost Otter Farm’ By Cory Christiansen, illus. by Mackinzie Rekers — Self-published Every year, the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature offers One Book Two Book, a festival for all kids, from the book character meet-and-greets for your toddler (with unbelievably tolerant folks dressed in full-coverage, big-headed costumes) to the Junior High […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘The Heap’ by Sean Adams
The Heap By Sean Adams — William Morrow (A HarperCollins imprint) Reading: Sean Adams Prairie Lights — Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. In his first novel, Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Sean Adams masterfully satirizes bureaucracy, capitalism and hustle culture in a way that is humorous and disturbing, while constructing an intriguing narrative that deals […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Paper Planes: A Collection of Poems not Crumpled on the Floor’ by Lovar Davis Kidd
Cedar Rapids-based dancer, educator and poet Lovar Davis Kidd started the new year by self-publishing a volume of poetry entitled Paper Planes: A Collection of Poems not Crumpled on the Floor. This collection calls to mind the author’s spoken word performances, and most of these pieces beg to be read aloud. The short book is divided into
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Author Garth Greenwell parsed the contradictions of desire with Writers’ Workshop colleague Novuyo Rosa Tshuma at Prairie Lights
On Monday, Jan. 27, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma joined Garth Greenwell at Prairie Lights Books to talk about Cleanness, his newest book of fiction. Graceful as it is reckless, brutal and vulnerable, dazzling and heavy with pain, Cleanness proves amidst the true hideousness of a subject lies magnificence, loneliness and the ultimate desire to be loved.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘They Said This Day Would Never Come’ by Chris Liddell-Westefeld
Every president of the United States dominates public discourse so thoroughly that they almost erase their predecessor from the collective consciousness. No one has done that as thoroughly as Donald J. Trump. One has to think hard to remember the Obama presidency, given the relentless onslaught of dishonesty and brutish absurdity
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Cleanness’ by Garth Greenwell
Cleanness, the second book by Garth Greenwell (released Jan. 14, 2020), is exemplary. It provides rare rewards to its readers beyond the scope dared by many authors of contemporary literature. It demands much of the reader — not due to its difficulty, but in the unrelenting rigor of the narrator who patiently preserves the paradoxes of everyday
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: Kiley Reid — ‘Such a Fun Age’
Reading: Kiley Reid Prairie Lights — Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Such a Fun Age By Kiley Reid — G.P. Putnam’s Sons Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Kiley Reid has written a timely and compelling debut novel. The action begins when Emira Tucker, a part-time babysitter, who is black, is called in for emergency sitting […]
