March Reviews

Books

• Drown by Junot Diaz - Though I enjoyed all three of his books, I was more moved by this one and would probably call it my favorite. I found Diaz’s voice as refreshing and important as ever.
• White Girls by Hilton Als - Hilton Als’ writing is beautiful and challenging. I particularly loved the essays on Eminem, Flannery O’Connor and Michael Jackson.
• The Widow and the Parrot by Virginia Woolf - I found out that she'd written a children's book and obviously had to buy and read it immediately. It was cute.
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt - SO GOOD. So suspenseful and smart and wonderfully descriptive. Donna Tartt is a brilliant writer.
• Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy by Brian K. Vaughan - I never read this kind of thing - it was a quick and fun little departure for me.

Movies

• Juno (2007) - I’d forgotten how funny this movie is! It was definitely time to watch it again. Oh, and it made me cry like three times, which was weird. Basically whenever Ellen Page was crying, I was crying.
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) - Watched this with my dad accompanied by some delicious Indian takeout. It was a fun evening - I missed Buster Keaton! I think it'd been 7 or 8 years since the last time I watched one of his movies.
• Dr. Strangelove (1964) - Brilliant. Somebody kick me for waiting until 2014 to watch it.
• The Red Balloon (1956) - Lovely French short. More heart wrenching than I thought it would be, too.

Theatre

• Mothers and Sons at the Golden Theatre - I laughed a lot and cried at the end. What more could I ask for? Tyne Daly was a joy to watch onstage. Read a great review here.

Art Events/Exhibits/etc.

• The Whitney Houston Biennial: I’m Every Woman - This was cool! Two of my friends were in this show that featured over 75 female artists. I’m glad I was able to go. You can read about it here.

Journalism/Essays/etc.

• “Outside the Box: Netflix and the future of television” by Ken Auletta for The New Yorker - An interesting read. I was particularly fascinated to learn about the math and statistics involved in figuring out what people want to watch.

• “Am I Black Enough for You?” by Retha Powers for The Rumpus - I just loved this.

• “Surviving a For-Profit School” by Stephen S. Mills for The Rumpus - I could have done without the fashion police stuff, but I still found this piece illuminating and so, so sad. The way these schools target the poorest and most disadvantaged people for recruitment is just sickening.