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Jonny Sun recommends 6 emotionally powerful books
The writer recommends works by Hanif Abdurraqib, Paige Lewis, and more
Gay's collection of 102 short, lyrical essays, begun in mid-2016 and written chronologically over the course of a tragic year in America, focuses on the careful observation of ordinary delights. The writing is precise and personal, grounded in thoughtful joy. The result is a quiet masterpiece.
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Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Ostensibly a collection of theses, stories, and essays on theater, Ruhl's book feels instead like the playwright's meditation on and celebration of all of life. Her writing here is deeply personal, sharply argued but also playful. The book becomes a portrait of the artist herself.
I am always so moved by Abdurraqib's lyrical writing, which to me seems to occupy a genre of celebratory elegy that only he is capable of inhabiting. He weaves cultural criticism and personal memoir in such a beautiful way, making the two modes feel inevitably and inextricably bound.
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This is my favorite Sarah Manguso book. She does this magical thing where every piece circles the piece that came before it, until you feel as though you are thinking the way she does, and until the book reveals the complex questions at its heart without ever truly asking them outright, which makes them more piercing.
This collection of short stories about love, from the creator of BoJack Horseman, is both surreal and joyful. No matter how absurd the scenario, each story makes an argument about why we love — or perhaps why we can't ever escape love. You'll feel like you are in on all the fun Bob-Waksberg is having.
This poetry collection awakened emotions in me that I did not know existed, or that I could feel, or that one could ever put words to. Every line is playful, honest, brutal, complex, confounding, and tender.
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