Sunday Stories: “The Reader”

Shelves

The Reader
by Maury F. Gruszko

A guy boarded the train at Delancey Street with hair the color of an old bronze and more of it than I’d ever had and there was even (and of course) one of those Superman locks cresting his forehead just so, insouciantly, and while I’d lay odds he’d never uttered the word “insouciance,” he obviously and enviously knew how to live it, leaning back with shoulder blades and the sole of a Vans pressed against the subway door and his body sheathed in black jeans and an artfully ratty black t-shirt emblazoned with the crazed remnants of the word MEMOREX. Anyway, I’m still not sure what he has to do with this beyond eclipsing the window where a person of interest I dubbed The Reader had existed for me in reflection since the 14th Street station, her image poised like a charcoal portrait as the tunnel shaded her features with cascading, slaty darkness.  

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Books of the Month: February 2025

February 2025 Books

Hello, February. We’ve had a lot on our minds over here at Vol. 1 Brooklyn HQ, as is the case (we suspect) for many of you. It’s a complicated time, and our recommended books for the month reflect that. These books cover everything from the challenges of the creative life to a satirical look at society; perhaps one (or more) of them will give you a new vantage point on the world.

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Christina Cooke on the Genesis of “Broughtupsy”

Christina Cooke

I first met Christina Cooke when we read together at an event in Woodstock in 2022. That was long before the publication of her debut novel Broughtupsy, about a woman grieving the loss of her brother and seeking to reconnect with her estranged sister in Jamaica. It’s a powerful book with a subtle precision in how its characters interact with one another and make their way through the world. With Broughtupsy now out in paperback, I talked with Cooke about the challenges of writing it, how to best to evoke the recent past, and our mutual admiration of Ali Smith.

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