Tara Cheesman
Tara Cheesman reads books. Sometimes she writes about the books she reads. It's all a bit arbitrary. Most of this reading and writing happens in a small brick house in the Pennsylvania city where she lives with her husband, two dogs and an ever-expanding library of books translated from languages she doesn’t speak or understand. She's currently considering getting a tortoise, because tortoises seem like good company. When not reading, writing or tending to her extensive collection of wooden pencils, Tara spends her time exploring cities in search of bookshops and art exhibits. She was a panelist at the 2015 PEN World Voices Festival and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Since 2009 she’s written the blog BookSexy Review. You can find her on Twitter @BookSexyReview. (Please feel free to tweet her your opinions on both books and pencils).
4 Novellas Told From a Child’s Point of View
June 29, 2018Novellas told from a child's point of view, from a little girl born with a bearded face to a Congolese boy raised in an orphanage, and more.
4 Books to Inspire Your City Garden
June 13, 2018Four works of memoir and nonfiction to help inspire you to create a city garden.
The 2018 Translation Prizes: Shortlists
May 18, 2018I was just thinking the other day that there’s a community of readers that don’t get the exposure of the ...
The Paris Review Announces Their New Editor: Emily Nemens
April 8, 2018To say I have a relationship with The Paris Review would be not so much an exaggeration as an outright ...
Do Negative Reviews Disproportionately Impact Women and Writers of Color?
March 16, 2018A reader responds to two essays considering whether negative reviews have an especially damaging impact on marginalized writers.
The National Book Award for Translated Literature
March 6, 2018Does re-launching the National Book Award for Translated Literature make sense, or is it the wrong way to go about shining a light on translated works?
Books to Read Between Episodes of The Alienist
January 22, 2018Gothic, Victorian reads to pick up between episodes of The Alienist.
Introducing Madagascar’s First Novel Translated Into English
December 26, 2017Excitement! You can now read Madagascar's first novel translated into English, BEYOND THE RICE FIELDS by Naivoharisoa Patrick Ramamonjisoa.
How To Reboot Your Book Club
November 29, 2017Is your book club losing steam? Here are 8 tips for reviving it.
When a Book is Almost Too Pretty to Read
October 3, 2017Have you ever been intimidated by a book's aesthetic appeal, or picked up a book and found it too pretty to read? A reader talks about this very conundrum.