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.
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.
In our weekend reading: an interview with Maggie Su, recent books in translation, and more.
The Golden Land, by Elizabeth Shick, blends a complex plot, unfamiliar setting, and dual timeline to create an absorbing story. This alone would account for its selection by the AWP for its Novel Prize. But this is a debut novel goes beyond deft storytelling. It’s a tale of family tragedy, of romantic confusion, and of human survival, both physical and emotional.
The guiding principle of Six Ridiculous Questions is that life is filled with ridiculousness. And questions. That only by giving in to these truths may we hope to slip the surly bonds of reality and attain the higher consciousness we all crave. (Eh, not really, but it sounded good there for a minute.) It’s just. Who knows? The ridiculousness and question bits, I guess. Why six? Assonance, baby, assonance.
In 1996, Jenny Johnston’s life was in disarray. She was the Division Head at one of the world’s largest corporations, headquartered in Lutherville, Maryland – just outside of Baltimore. But Johnston’s coworkers did not–seemingly would not–grant her the respect she felt she deserved. So, she turned to murder and manipulation. And to writer Tim Paggi to tell her tale, which is less a straight narrative than it is a step-by-step guide on how to vanquish one’s sniveling enemies.
Today, we’re pleased to present an excerpt from Farah Ali’s novel The River, The Town. Spanning over thirty years, Ali’s novel tells the story of a family in Pakistan reckoning with both interpersonal struggles and environmental challenges. As Munib Khan wrote in World Literature Today, “[I]n Ali’s constructed universe, nature is not some medieval force, mercurial and playing with the destinies of characters arbitrarily. Instead, we have the clear impulses of neoliberalism using up resources, encroaching on land, waging war on the poor.”
In our morning reading: Jordy Rosenberg and Annie McClanahan in conversation, Ursula K. Le Guin and activism, and more.