Feeling a lack of meaningful connection to their cultural roots—Lurie as the son of a reticent Holocaust survivor, José attempting to access a communal histroy obliterated by centuries of oppression—Canoeing with José is the story of two men who embark on a two-thousand mile paddle from Breckenridge, Minnesota to the Hudson Bay. Faced with mosquitoes, extreme weather, suspicious law enforcement officers, tricky border crossings, and José’s preference for Kanye West over the great outdoors„ the trip becomes an oddysey of self-discovery and companionship.

Their friend, Markus Hoeckner, produced a short documentary about their friendship.

“I can see, looking back…

Does a book seem small in influence compared to the monstrous forces of mean-spirited avarice that shadow our public life today? Sure. But why do we remember Leo Tolstoy, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, or James Baldwin?

The next Milkweed Books Subscription pick is here! Read on for more about Edward McPherson’s The History of the Future, plus other books that explore American myths and misdeeds, boomtowns and Doom Towns.

In precise sentences and assured prose, all three of these writers have crafted singular works of personal nonfiction.

Today marks the official U.S. publication of Tim Winton’s acclaimed memoir, Island Home. The author of twenty-eight books for adults and children, Winton is known worldwide as one of Australia’s most acclaimed novelists. Island Home offers readers a more intimate view of Winton’s relationship to his home—to the sea, scrub, and swamp as vital to him as the blood relations of family.

My reading of novels is often framed by a theme, be it an idea or location or era. Lately, that theme is novels that contain both sadness and humor.