Author Archives: palquist

The Bear and the Nightingale

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Another incredible recommendation by my fabulous Children’s lit/YA literary agent friend. This incredible fairy tale retelling by Katherine Arden is an impressive debut (and the first in a trilogy!) Lyrical and evocative, The Bear and the Nightingale is a fascinating portrayal of Medieval Russia—full of the old spirits, feudal life, Christianity, and a sprinkling of historical and literary references (the epigraph is a poem by Pushkin!) I took many Russian literature classes in college and this book brought all of that back to me.

 

Review: We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories

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Review: We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories by Clare Beams

Another brilliant book club pick from the phenomenal small press book club at Brookline Booksmith. I was blown away by this debut short story collection by Clare Beams and published by Lookout Books. The stories, individually and as a whole, were startling, creepy, and gorgeously written. She’s been likened to a mix of Alice Munro and Shirley Jackson and I think that’s a fitting combination. The Rumpus did a great review, discussing the stories in more detail and the feminist nature of the book—you can find it here.

Snowy Day In the Kitchen

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Boston has been overwhelmed by snow this past week and yesterday was a snow day spent in the kitchen. First I made my favorite cranberry orange steel cut oatmeal (recipe) and later in the evening I made my Baba’s Ukrainian borscht! And now all of the city is digging itself back out . . .

Beyond Words: Italian Renaissance Books

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I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum earlier this week to catch the exhibit Beyond Words: Italian Renaissance Books on its very last day! I loved the exhibit and if you ever have a chance to look at books from this period of time I’d highly recommend it. They are absolutely fascinating. I also took the chance to explore the museum, which is probably up there on my favorite museums/galleries list. The museum is strange and stunning and the variety of collections is perfect for anyone with wide-ranging interests in the arts.

More on the exhibit:

In the 1400s book production witnessed groundbreaking advances in design and technology that transformed pages from parchment (animal skin) to paper, script to font, and vividly colored illuminations to black and white prints. A surge in literacy and demand for books drove innovation. These radical changes did not occur instantly but through a gradual process of experimentation marked by notable leaps in achievement. Much like analogue and digital culture today, manuscripts and printed books co-existed for a long period serving different purposes and readers.”