![]() ![]() This was not the daydream of the happy idler. Early on he describes "the special brand of monomania, anti-social and ill-balanced, that a serious commitment to surfing nearly always brought with it… This was a track that led away from citizenship, in the ancient sense of the word, to a scratched-out frontier where we would live as latter-day barbarians. He admits that his addiction was a justifiable worry for his parents, and an obviously self-centered way of life. ![]() Finnegan's memoir won a Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for his reflections on his lifelong obsession with surfing. Fifty years later, and having traveled the world to find the perfect waves, he surfed in the winter sleet of Long Island. For his eleventh birthday his dad bought him his first surf board. William Finnegan rode his first wave when he was ten years old. To thine own self be true, urged Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet. William Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life (New York: Penguin, 2015), 447pp. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() Just sadness, triggered by the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the violence exacted there. The distinctive sounds and smells of the region don’t find their way to the page. ![]() But one immediately gets the sense that, for him, the American South is primarily a landscape of tragic memories. This essay, like much of the book, reveals Cole’s extraordinary talent and his capacious mind. In Teju Cole’s brilliant new book of essays, Known and Strange Things, he writes of a trip to Selma, Ala. But apart from his marketability-that people can use him as an avatar of supposed seriousness-what does Baldwin offer us in this moment? What does he force us, as Americans, to confront? His words inspire on social media his phrases speak from T-shirts his face covers a throw pillow on Etsy. ![]() To account for the latest disasters around race in this country-grief over the death of another black person at the hands of police the fact that we have vomited up the likes of Donald Trump-activists often reach for him. ![]() ![]() ![]() More than the sum of its parts, My Moment is also a handbook for young women (or any woman) making their way through the world. This hugely inspiring, beautiful book will move people of all ages and make them feel less alone. ![]() Over and over again, when told “no” these women said “yes” to themselves. Author Maggie Smith details a career crossroads when her boss declined her request to work from home after the birth of her daughter, leading her to quit and never look back. Carol Burnett shares how CBS discouraged her from pursuing The Carol Burnett Show, because comedy variety shows were “a man’s game.” Joanna Gaines reveals how coming to New York City as a young woman helped her embrace her Korean heritage after enduring racist bullying as a child. In My Moment, Gloria Steinem tells the story of how a meeting with writer Terry Southern drew blood. This powerful essay collection is a natural extension of the #MeToo movement, revealing the interior experience of women after they’ve inevitably been underestimated or hurt-the epiphany that the world is different than they thought it to be-and how they’ve used this knowledge to make change. A collection of essays accompanied by beautiful black-and-white photography from a diverse group of women on the moment they realized they were ready to fight for themselves-including Gloria Steinem, Lena Waithe, Joanna Gaines, Brandi Carlile, Beanie Feldstein, Cynthia Erivo, and Billie Jean King, among others. ![]() ![]() Those of you who were forced at school to read the novel – probably Orwell’s best, and in my humble opinion the closest anyone will likely ever get to writing the perfect story – will recognise the quote. It helps to understand what Orwell’s animal tale was really about, which can partly be summed up in the word: “equality”. ![]() |