Jonathan Russell Clark
LADY MONDEGREEN’S JUNGLE
In 1954 Sylvia Wright, an editor at Harper’s Magazine, wrote a piece for the magazine in which she recalls her childhood. Her mother would read the Scottish ballad “The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray” to her. Here is how young Wright heard the opening lyric:
JONATHAN COME LATELY—AN INTRODUCTION
Jonathan Russell Clark debuts a monthly column for Tasteful Rude detailing the choicest selections from his book-obsessed life.
EXTRA-METATEXTUALITY: A REVIEW OF CHUCK KLOSTERMAN’S THE NINETIES: A BOOK
In his book "The Nineties", Chuck Klosterman is not interested in what’s conventionally understood or easily graspable but in the layers that either exist deep underneath or hover loftily. It’s what makes his essays and books so fun—it allows us to reconsider accepted wisdom.
SPELLING CYPHERS: A REVIEW OF LONG DIVISION BY KIESE LAYMON
The most interesting mystery novels don’t announce themselves as such. There is no murder to solve or culprit to apprehend. Rather, events which have no obvious explanation unfold and an air of ambiguity surrounds them. Kiese Laymon’s novel "Long Division" belongs to this category of mystery.
Embodied is an Intertextual and Intersectional Masterpiece.
One of the most exciting and stimulating examples of cross-genre amplification...exhilarating.
MONA Is A Devastating Satire
It's no accident that Pola Oloixarac opens the novel with, "Come thirsty."
The Dangers (And Pleasures) of Smoking in Bed
Mariana Enriquez's short stories take magical realism to the extreme, blending the surreal — ghosts, witches, curses and cannibals — with vividly rendered trauma that is all too real.
