Critical Notes

New Reviews and More from NBCC Members

By Jennie Hann

A stately, organized bookshelf

Member Reviews/Essays
 
NBCC board member Anita Felicelli reviewed Melissa Chadburn’s A Tiny Upward Shove for Alta. She also wrote an essay on Maggie Nelson’s The ArgonautsAlta’s California Book Club pick for this month.
 
For The Dallas Morning News, NBCC board member and bookstore owner Lori Featherswrote an editorial about a collective read of The Brothers Karamazov that coincided with the first two months of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
 
Kathleen Rooney wrote an essay about Ada Limón’s new poetry collection, The Hurting Kind, for the Poetry Foundation.
 
Daneet Steffens reviewed Chris Bohjalian’s The Lioness for The Boston Globe.
 
Kitty Kelley revisited Sonia Purnell’s Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchillfor the Washington Independent Review of Books.
 
Barbara J. King reviewed Theresa Brown’s Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient for The Washington Post.
 
Cory Oldweiler reviewed An Island by Karen Jennings for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
 
Judith Reveal reviewed How To Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth for the New York Journal of Books. She also reviewed The Vanishing Type by Ellery Adams and Once a Thief by Christopher Reichfor the same outlet.
 
Anne Charles reviewed The Last One by Fatima Daas for The Gay and Lesbian Review.
 
Meg Waite Clayton’s May list for Bay City Booksoffered a round-up of seven new titles by Bay Area authors, including Devi S. Laskar, Toni Mirosevich, and more.
 
Rhoda Feng reviewed the plays Help by Claudia Rankine for Public Books and Confederates by Dominque Morisseau for The Smart Set. She also reviewed Jing Tsu’s Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern for Mekong Review.
 
Eric Liebetrau wrote a round-up of eight nonfiction books that offer diverse perspectivesfor Kirkus Reviews.
 
NBCC lifetime member Fran Hawthornereviewed All the Lights Above Us by M.B. Henryfor the New York Journal of Books.
 
Tobias Carroll wrote about Gary Indiana and true crime for Crime Reads. He also reviewed Premee Mohamed’s The Void Ascendant and Kate Folk’s Out There for Tor.com.
 
Linda Hitchcock reviewed How Lucky by Will Leitch for BookTrib.
 
 
Member Interviews
 
Lauren LeBlanc interviewed Ada Limón about her new poetry collection, The Hurting Kind, for Vanity Fair.
 
Paul Wilner interviewed Gabriela Hasbun about the just-released volume The New Black West:Photographs From America’s Only Touring Black Rodeo for the Nob Hill Gazette.
 
Tobias Carroll interviewed Jordan A. Rothackerfor The Brooklyn Rail and Maurice Broaddus for Vol.1, Brooklyn.
 
 
Member News
 
A profile of Kitty Kelley and her groundbreaking works of unauthorized biography appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.
 
Barbara J. King’s book Animals’ Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild was a finalist for the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature.
 
Rafael Castillo’s short story “The Last Time”—a tribute to John Cheever—was published in Community College Humanities Review.
 
Nathaniel Popkin’s essay “Finding Purchase: Walks of Witness on Stolen Land” appeared in the anthology Ways of Walking, edited by Ann de Forest and published by New Door Books.
 
Hélène Cardona translated two poems by Maram Al Masri for World Literature Today.
 
Carissa Chesanek’s personal essay on intergenerational PTSD was recently published by OC87recoverydiaries.org.
 
 
Partner News
 
Our friends at Alta are hosting their monthly California Book Club on Thursday, May 19, at 5 p.m. Pacific featuring Maggie Nelson and John Freeman. Click here for more information about the event. Note that joining the club is free and even includes four custom-designed bookplates!
 
“HSP Shelfie” photo by NBCC board member Heather Scott Partington. Used with permission.