Bookmarks List/Bedside Table

Currently reading and enjoying...

• Lots of nonfiction, it seems! Starting with this terrific piece by Ashley Ford, “The Year I Grew Wildly, While Men Looked On.” On the female body, and the complicated messages about power and lack of power that young girls are forced to receive. You’ll be infuriated by parts of this article (but it might also feel very familiar). A powerful snippet: “My body was doing what it was supposed to do, and I would catch up. I wished no one would have to watch this happen."

• This lovely and poignant essay, “Reach the Rafters: On Literary Sentiment,” by Nick Ripatrazone in The Millions.

• This essay, also lovely and poignant, but more raw-edged and painful: "Guide to Communicating with Your Dead Brother," by Erika Kleinman at The Nervous Breakdown. 

• Richard Gilbert’s great memoir, Shepherd. Gilbert’s prose is patient, natural, and swept up in the landscape. More thoughts on the book (and comments from the author) in a profile piece here.