What We’re Reading
What We’re Reading
Books make great presents for the holidays … or any time, really. We asked Lit’s Winter and Spring 2025 faculty members to name a book they read this year that they’d recommend to our newsletter readers and to summarize why it resonated for them. Here are their thoughtful answers … and what they’re teaching!
PAULA MARTINAC
The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley (Fiction)
I don’t read a lot of speculative fiction, but this wildly imaginative fusion of time travel/spy thriller/workplace comedy/romance had me enthralled. (And Barack Obama, too, apparently: It made his “Favorite Books of Summer 2024” list.) The premise sounds over-the-top — in the near future, a British-Cambodian civil servant is assigned as the guide and housemate for a naval commander who’s been extracted from the 19th century through a time-travel door. Got that? What makes this book sing are the charming characters, whom I wanted to follow through time.
Paula will teach “Fiction in Five Weeks” starting on January 14.
CATHY PICKENS
The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin (Nonfiction)
A music producer and music company executive, Rubin offers creative advice and encouragement for everyone, working in the everyday as well as in “art.” A book to dip into or to read straight through.
Cathy will teach the free-to-members class “Start Here” on January 16.
PAUL REALI
Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan
After winning a Pulitzer Prize for the atypically constructed A Visit from the Good Squad — which had a different narrator for each chapter and included a PowerPoint slide deck — Jennifer Egan next delivered Manhattan Beach, a traditionally structured novel that is a near-perfect lesson in everything a novel writer needs to learn. It has distinct narrative voices, crisp dialogue, movements in time, braided plots, an immersive historical setting, and — in case all that’s not enough for you — mobsters.
Paul will teach the 2-part “Living as a Writer in the Virtual World” starting January 23.
KATHY IZARD
The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Broken Hearts and World, by Sharon Brous (Nonfiction)
A leading American female rabbi, Sharon Brous combines excellent storytelling, keen observation, and sage advice to offer ideas for finding shared connection in isolating and polarizing times. This sentence from the synopsis best summarizes it: “The Amen Effect translates foundational ideas into simple practices that connect us to our better angels, offering a blueprint for a more meaningful life and a more connected and caring world.”
Kathy will teach “Book Dreams: Taking Creative Control of Your Publishing Goals” on February 12.
KEVIN MORGAN WATSON
The Winter People, by John Ehle (Fiction)
From Press 53’s Carolina Classics Editions, The Winter People is book five of Ehle’s seven-novel Appalachian series set deep in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the early 20th century. The movie starring Kurt Russell, Kelly McGillis, and Lloyd Bridges was very good, but as Ehle himself said, “It’s not the book.”
Kevin will teach “What Dwells Between the Lines: Writing Remarkably Brief Fiction” on February 13.
JUNIOUS “JAY” WARD
Besaydoo, by Yalie Saweda Kamara (Poetry)
I had the pleasure of reading and interviewing Yalie about this collection for The Rumpus; the interview can be found here. I immediately found a kinship with the poet’s style and inventiveness and was blown away by how white space is used in the book, as well as how form (or the idea of form) is utilized. We’re taken on a hyper-localized journey, which of course sets us up for a universal understanding of how place impacts our lives. One of my favorite reads this year!
Jay will teach “Joining the Conversation: Finding and Celebrating Your Voice” on February 18.
MICHAEL SADOFF
Love Like That: Stories, by Emma Duffy-Comparone (Fiction)
I don’t know what compelled me, but I recently selected the option on Goodreads to show only 1-star reviews of this 2021 debut story collection. Within moments, I was laughing out loud at the beach book readers, many of whom received Love Like That as a freebie (perhaps as a reward for their prolific review bombing). “Depressing,” “tragic,” “not funny,” they opined, and I can’t argue too much, except for the not funny part. The stories in this book can be devastatingly funny, but even if the humor escapes readers sometimes, I happen to love tragic stories about mixed-up people, and I’m betting someone on your gift list does too. Having fielded the question “Do any of your stories end well?” about my own work too many times to count, I stand in solidarity with Duffy-Comparone. She writes it as she sees it, and it doesn’t always end well.
Michael will teach “Cracked: Exploring the Fractured Point of View in Storytelling” on February 19.
ASHLEY HARRIS
The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays, by CJ Hauser (Nonfiction)
After reading CJ Hauser’s masterful essay “The Crane Wife” several years ago, I recently had the pleasure of reading this book-length memoir, a delightful collection of honest and compelling creative nonfiction. The book would make an excellent gift for anyone who might identify with Hauser’s words: “I am an obnoxious conversation snob and have a pathologically low threshold for small talk. I love people who fall into the category of Smart, Sad People Flaunting Their Intelligence with Panache.”
Ashley will teach “Adding Resonance Through Research” on February 26. Ashley notes that the class will study one of the essays in this very book, “The Second Mrs. De Winter,” which offers a self-reflective journey through the lens of the protagonist of Daphne Du Maurier’s deliciously chilling novel Rebecca.
SAGE TYRTLE
Linghun, by Ai Jiang (Fiction)
I already knew I loved Ai Jiang’s writing — her short stories use metaphor in exciting ways — but Linghun was a step beyond. This rumination on mourning and grief takes a suburban neighborhood and steps sideways into the shadows, giving us a speculative fiction novel that I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come.
Sage will teach “Speculative Fiction: Near Future” on March 4.
KATHIE COLLINS
Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life, by Sharon Blackie (Nonfiction)
I’ve long been a fan of British mythologist Sharon Blackie whose work with fairy and folk tales never fails to stir my psyche and imagination. Hagitude explores the connections between landscape, place-based folk and fairy tales featuring the old woman archetype, and the midlife transition from mother to crone. While I’m moved by the work of a host of poets, I find that an excellent cultural-mythological exploration like Blackie’s is what moves me to make a poem.
Kathie will teach “Four Weeks, Four Fairytales” starting on March 5.
JUDY GOLDMAN
Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan (Fiction)
I have read this novel by Claire Keegan so many times, I’ve lost count. I love it because it is sweet and sad and written in such simple, yet stirring, prose that as I turn the pages, I have to keep reminding myself, “Breathe, Judy.”
Judy will teach the 2-part “Let’s Make a Scene!” starting on March 6.
KATHRYN SCHWILLE
Neighbors and Other Stories, by Diane Oliver (Fiction)
One of the most memorable books I read this year was this story collection by Diane Oliver, a Charlotte native who died a month before she would have graduated from the Iowa Writers Workshop in 1966. A posthumous collection published just this year, the thoughtful, moving title story takes us inside a Black family the night before their first-grader is about to integrate a white school.
Kathryn will teach the 2-part “The Power of Implication; Or, We’re All Just Squirrels Here” starting on April 2.
And save the date: Charlotte Lit will host a Book Club event about Diane Oliver’s Neighbors and Other Stories on February 20.
BROOKE SHAFFNER
The Fear of Large and Small Nations, by Nancy Agabian (Fiction)
This was one of my favorite reads this year and has so much to say about the time we’re living in. Equally expansive and intimate, the novel is an Armenian American’s brilliant, epic exploration of in-betweenness, queerness, art, activism, love, self and the connections between individual and social trauma.
Brooke will teach “Creating Immediacy Through Lyricism” on April 8.
SARAH CREECH
James, by Percival Everett (Fiction)
James is a must read for 2024. I run a summer book club series at Charlotte Swim and Racquet Club, and we had a deep and engaging discussion about this selection. It’s such a brilliant update of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn that we were all shocked someone had not written this story before now! It was the favorite selection of the summer and recently won the 2024 National Book Award for fiction. Combine this read with an American Fiction movie night and the discussion about intended audience will overlap in fascinating and unexpected ways.
Sarah will teach the 3-part “The Art of Description” starting on April 30.
AE “EARL” HINES
Finger Exercises for Poets, Dorianne Laux (Poetry craft)
I loved this craft book, where Laux compares her daily writing of poetry to the disciplined act of a musician playing the scales on their chosen instrument. She provides useful prompts and exercises that help keep the poet’s mind (and our use of language) as limber and prepared as a classical pianist’s hands. Laux reminds us that as writers we must show up to the blank page every day — not just with the intention to produce new work, but to practice and hone our skills.
Earl will teach “Epiphany in Fourteen Lines” on May 13.