I’m a writer and editor and specialize in reviewing books written for adults and writing educational standards-based books and articles for kids and teens. My work has been published in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Bookforum, The Oregonian, Publishers Weekly, and other publications.

Featured Author Interviews & Essays

Like BDSM? R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell’s Kink Turns Erotica into High Art

When thinking about the intersection of kink and mainstream American media, a few unsatisfying milestones might come to mind. There’s Steven Shainberg’s erotic black comedy “Secretary,” based on the Mary Gaitskill novella about a dominant lawyer and his submissive assistant. The film broke ground when it was released in 2002 but seems dated and only mildly titillating in 2021. Then there’s E.L. James’ series of (atrociously written) Fifty Shades novels and the … [Read More...]

In Quinn’s She Votes, 100 Female Artists Retell the Suffrage Movement Story

  If there was ever a time to get out and vote, it’s now. But, first: Raise your hand if you can explain the real story behind the suffrage movement aside from what you learned in grade school. Right, that’s what I thought. The sad truth is, there’s a lot that most of us don’t know about how women “earned” the right to vote, including how long the process took. For example, did you realize that Sacajawea, one of the core members of (and … [Read More...]

Featured Reviews: Fiction

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

For fans of the best-selling 2018 novel Normal People and the binge-worthy 2020 Hulu TV series that stemmed from it, there’s perhaps no other book more anticipated in 2021 than Irish writer and Millennial mastermind Sally Rooney’s third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You. The question is: Is it worthy of all the prepublication buzz? With a few major caveats, you bet. The plot, though delightfully dirty at times and compulsively readable, is nothing to write … [Read More...]

Featured Reviews: Fiction

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

If you live anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, you’re no stranger to the thorny politics of logging. There are the tree-cutters on one side and tree-huggers on the other, and never the twain shall meet. Either you’re wielding the ax of the capitalist machine or you’re an environmentalist do-gooder handing out petitions and chanting “This Land Is Your Land” at a harvest site. Set in rural Klamath, “a town without stoplights, a gas station, or … [Read More...]