Could You Repeat That? 180
Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli
All I see in hindsight is the chaos of history repeated, over and over, reenacted, reinterpreted, the world, its fucked-up heart palpitating underneath us, failing, messing up again and again as it winds its way around a sun. And in the middle of it all, tribes, families, people, all beautiful things falling apart, debris, dust, erasure.
Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson
I had never wanted kids, because I had never wanted a man to give me a kid. The thought of it, gross; the expectation of it. But if a hole in the sky opened up and two weird children fell to Earth, smashing into the ground like meteorites, then that was something I could care for. If it gleamed like it was radiating danger, I'd hold it. I would.
The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
I nearly loved them. My work demanded no less: I must reach beyond all my particular hatred and pain, see them in their fullness, and then, with my pen strike out and destroy them.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence--but rather, that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it.
Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Does this mean PMS is somehow linked to ovulation? We're sorry to report this, but the scientific repsponse is: who the hell knows?
Trust Exercise, Susan Choi
From under her eyeliner mask she saw me, the person she'd most hoped to avoid, just as she was the person I'd most hoped to avoid, so that, thinking and acting the same way, our efforts canceled each other. And right away her gaze went hard with the anger we always feel at the person who spoils our idea of ourself.
Overthrow, Caleb Crain
In the dream she had understood that no one who was in a tunnel ever left it. Each one came to an end with its digger still inside.
The Witch Who Came In From the Cold, Lindsay Smith, et al
Copper and crushed Czech wildflowers; ashes from a burnt birch tree and a few dabs of blood. Gabe tasted it like an early spring awakening, blossoming on his tongue. This was how he’d imagined magic should feel.
All This Could Be Yours, Jami Attenberg
Cora had taken an economics class in college and was fairly certain her vagina was a capitalist tool.
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, Caitlin Doughty
"Caitlin, can you smile a little, you look so dour."
"This is a human head. I don't need pictures of me grinning with a severed human head," I said.
"Sandra's smiling way more than you are, try to look a little less melancholy, please."
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
"Ask me how I am and I'll scream," she said.
"How are you," said Camilla, who was a pill.
"I see you calling my bluff and I resent it," said Gideon.
A Map of Salt and Stars, Zeyn Joukhadar
Does it make it easier to live with loss if you don't name it? Or is that something you do as a mercy for other people?
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
"Physics is required. Three semesters. If you fail, you're out of the program."
"For a marketing degree?" Alex was dumbfounded.
9"It used to be epidemiology," Lulu said. "You know, when the viral model was still current."