Lisa Butts is a book critic and an editor in academic publishing. She studied poetry and creative nonfiction at the New School and Sarah Lawrence College.
Reviews
Earth 7 really sings in small moments that show deep respect for life, for its remarkable diversity, its endurance and durability. Unferth’s admiration for the inhabitants of Earth, its many creatures large and small, is infectious, at times exhilarating—a shot of urgent hope.
Features
The trajectory of Covid awareness may not go exactly as many expect, and in the meantime, bookstores are one of the community spaces that can offer a transition point to a different possible future.
Monthly Book Lists
Our monthly book list for May includes nonfiction from Jesmyn Ward, a speculative novel by Tom Lin following Chinese immigrants in South Dakota who encounter a secret government program, and more.
Reviews
No God But Us vividly illuminates what life is like for the many queer refugees who live in liminal space for years, whose only home is the state of uncertainty.
Stories in the World
Given that many of the stories in Kim Samek’s debut story collection I Am the Ghost Here feature surreal elements, borrowing tropes from science fiction and fantasy, I was surprised to find honest, genuine explorations of the pandemic as a mass disabling event in its fourth and fifth stories.
Features
What wave of feminism is it where we tell a woman she is too clueless to understand what is going on in her own marriage?
Interviews
"Exile is such a strange and absurd situation. I think there are going to be things you miss so much. You start to wonder whether or not it really was worth it. And what you're willing to give up to get some of those things back."
Monthly Book Lists
See what April books we're excited about. This month's selection includes an International Booker Prize nominee, a novel that features Monica Lewinsky as a patron saint, and more.
Reviews
Lewinsky is Virgil, capably leading Jean through the inferno of predatory male sexual behavior, demonstrating to her that the power she wields—wielded even when she was being taken advantage of—is a force to be reckoned with.
Stories in the World
Stories in the World is a series in which we explore a particular element of a piece of writing in a broader context. Here, Lisa looks at the phenomenon of women who become involved in relationships with queer women while self-identifying as straight, as featured in Max Delsohn's "All Time Low."
Reviews
While we might be living through what is commonly referred to as late-stage capitalism, we are not at the end of anything—we are always in the middle of an unfolding story.
Monthly Book Lists
Check out five books we're looking forward to that are coming out in March, including new releases from Rebecca Solnit and Louise Erdrich.