Sanderson’s initial presentation of her subject is positive. She differentiates among types of social media, observing that online platforms have “opened up new career opportunities,” “enabled people to connect,” and allowed “people to leave reviews of products or companies.” China has its “own versions” of social media (there’s no mention of censorship). The statement that […]
This short introduction to anime, like the genre itself, diverges in many directions. Six chapters highlight aspects of the industry, beginning with “The Anime Renaissance,” a chapter establishing the contemporary context of Japanese animation. The author argues that anime is central to Japanese culture; the robot cat Doraemon holds an official government position as “anime […]
In Clydeo Takes a Bite out of Life (2024), the adorable sheepdog pup discovered his passion: whipping up delectable dishes. Now his family members, their many faces shaggily half-hidden, ask the young baker for peanut-butter cookie treats. Kitchen-confident Clydeo gets to work. Thinking it prudent to taste the new ingredient before using it, he gulps […]
Published in the U.K. earlier this year, now shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Markovits’ 12th novel establishes the unstudied and confiding voice that carries it so compellingly forward in the first sentence: “When our son was twelve years old, my wife had an affair with a guy called Zach Zirsky, whom she knew from synagogue.” […]
This novel by Colombian writer Restrepo reimagines the biblical love affair through the lens of the queen’s childhood and upbringing, weaving it into the stories of modern exiles in refugee settlements in Yemen. The queen, born as the eldest daughter of the kingdom of Sheba and nicknamed Goat Foot because of her furred body and […]
While the beginning and end of the story remain the same, with quotes from Genesis—Noah builds the ark for two of every animal; dry land and a rainbow appear—this book focuses on the middle and the various cohabitating animals. Gott divides them into groups: nocturnal animals like koalas, bats, and owls; a variety of cats, […]
Festooned with daisies, an orange-and-yellow-striped bus with bee wings attached to its top and a license plate that reads “HOP2IT” pulls up to the corner on a rainy spring day. Who is the driver? A dapper bunny, of course. Mills’ text breaks into a familiar tune: “One hoppity bus goes SPLISH and SPLASH, / SPLISH […]
Lamb, an Earth scientist and author of Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes, writes that Earth’s surface is a mosaic of restless plates that go their separate ways, sometimes bumping together as one plate sinks beneath another, sometimes moving apart and opening up a new ocean. That’s the surface. […]
Ziva is a Maine coon cat who lives with the Freedmans. It’s unclear what happened before she arrived there, because although she’s sweet and calm with them, she finds strangers upsetting: “Ziva would leap like lightning. Claws out. Eyes blazing. Like she was guarding something only she could see.” One day, Elsie arrives to stay […]
Gilbert, a bald, mint-green goblin, is far too busy for Valentine’s Day. From bird-watching to goat yoga, his schedule is full. Besides, “Valentine’s Day is all about love and flowers and all that other mushy malarkey”—Gilbert doesn’t need it! He isn’t interested in those heart-shaped boxes of candy with their gross coconut surprises, and he’s […]