Books
Swamp City Serenade
‘When I Spoke in Tongues’ Chronicles a Long Walk Away from the Church
For readers who’ve wrestled with their religious upbringing, Jessica Wilbanks evokes a powerful sense of loss: the loss of the person she used to be, and of the person she might have become, had she stayed inside the fold.
On a research trip to Nigeria, Houston writer Jessica Wilbanks fills out a questionnaire after attending a Pentecostal church service. The form asks a series of...Read More
Casey Gerald’s Memoir Isn’t the Inspirational Tale You Think It Is
By his mid-20s, Casey Gerald — who grew up poor in Dallas — had an eye-popping résumé and an impressive career. So why did he walk away from the “circus of success”?
In 2015, George W. Bush rested his hand on Casey Gerald’s shoulder at a buffet in Dallas. The president wanted to ask Gerald, then an intern at Lehman Brother...Read More
‘Beyoncé in Formation’ is a Texas Professor’s Love Letter to Queen B
Part memoir, part pop-culture scholarship, this slim, engaging book uses Beyoncé as a springboard for wide-ranging ruminations on sexuality, motherhood and activism.
Omise’eke Tinsley made headlines in 2014, when the University of Texas at Austin announced that she would be teaching a new course titled “Beyoncé Feminism...Read More
Author Shane Bauer on How the Racist Roots of Private Prisons Still Permeate the System
“I was struggling with this feeling that I was becoming this different person in prison — a person I didn’t like.”
Falsified reports, inadequate medical care, severe understaffing and a plethora of illicit drugs and weapons: These are the grim realities of America’s modern...Read More
Best of the 2018 Texas Book Festival: An Observer Staff Guide
Six can’t-miss author events hand-picked by our writers.
Best of the 2018 Texas Book Festival: An Observer Staff Guide Six can’t-miss author events hand-picked by our writers. It’s the most wonderful time of the y...Read More
An Evocative New Memoir of Nature and Loss Never Quite Gets Off the Ground
Another entry in the overcrowded genre of grief memoir, A Song for the River is beautifully written but plumbs all-too-familiar territory.
How many grief memoirs is enough grief memoirs? That would be an absurdly unfair question to ask an author, of course, but I’m starting to think that a reader...Read More
Listen to Survivors, Urges a New Book of Essays on Injustice
Lacy Johnson’s lyrical new book of essays grapples with sexual assault, environmental disasters and Donald Trump.
In one of the essays collected in her new book, The Reckonings, Houston writer Lacy Johnson recounts the ancient Greek story of Philomela, an Athenian princess ...Read More
Burn It All Down
Ben Fountain’s new book of essays chronicles the ascent of Trumpism with a keen eye for the past, present and future.
The rise of Donald J. Trump repeatedly confounded political scholars, reporters, pundits and campaign operatives alike. Time after time, those who closely follo...Read More
Heartland is an Honest, Poetic Meditation on Class in America
Journalist Sarah Smarsh’s book encapsulates what it’s like to grow up in the forgotten farm fields of America, artfully mixing anecdote with political context and societal commentary.
Having fun during a Kansas winter, as Sarah Smarsh writes in her new memoir, Heartland, requires creativity: “Lots of snow, no hills.” In one memora...Read More