Blog — UNDOMESTICATED

At the Interface of Film and Memoir: a Conversation with Elizabeth Rynecki

Writer and filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki searched the globe to the lost art of her great grandfather, Moshe Rynecki, who painted almost 800 scenes of Jewish Polish life before he was sent to the Warsaw Ghetto and was later murdered at the Majdanek concentration camp. She wrote about this journey in Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy and later produced a documentary of this search in the film Chasing Portraits. We recently spoke to Rynecki about her book, her film, and her quest for answers.

books, lifestyleSusan Blumberg-KasonJanuary 28, 2021home-top-posts, latest-books-rightComment

Starting an NGO in Tibet: A Conversation with Pam Logan

Pam Logan, author of Compassion Mandala and founder of the Kham Aid Foundation, an NGO bringing resources to Tibet, talks about everything from starting an NGO to international relationships to the opportunities and challenges facing today’s non-profit organizations.

travel, books, lifestyleSusan Blumberg-KasonJanuary 13, 2021latest-travel-rightComment

Books Over Birthright

To access world literature beyond what was translated and censored in the Islamic Republic, I had to improve my English and enter the world of banned books which were smuggled in alongside alcohol, Western film, and music. Limited and expensive, but accessible through the right contacts. Reading books from across the world was a turning point in my life.

books, travel, featuresAva HomaJanuary 5, 2021popularComment

Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J. Lee

Jessica J. Lee travels to her mother’s birthplace of Taiwan to trace her grandparents’ background, something they rarely spoke of while they were alive. Lee is an environmental historian, and she leans on this expertise to braid the conventional trappings of memoir with a geological understanding of Taiwan’s mountainous regions, rivers, and forests.

booksSusan Blumberg-KasonDecember 31, 2020home-top-posts, latest-books-rightComment

The Anthill by Julianne Pachico

Julianne Pachico’s second novel is a vivid portrait of a woman and searching for identity in present-day Medellin.

booksSusan Blumberg-KasonNovember 25, 2020latest-books-right, home-top-posts

2021 is a Year to Look Forward to — Here are the Books That Will Get You There

Angie Cruz, award-winning author of Dominicana, Soledad, and Let it Rain, discusses the most-anticipated books of winter/spring 2021.

booksAngie CruzNovember 17, 2020home-top-posts, latest-books-right, popularComment

Everywhere is Interesting if You Bother to Notice: A Conversation With Pam Mandel

Pam Mandel, travel writer and author of The Same River Twice shares her thoughts on the joys of getting lost, how travel helps us become ourselves, and her ongoing quest for the strange, beautiful, and unknown.

travel, features, booksNancy MiddletonNovember 3, 2020Comment

6 Smart and Sexy Books on International Affairs

If you want a spirited book club discussion, choose forbidden love. Here are some great reads that feature international affairs worth talking about.

booksTiffany HawkOctober 21, 2020latest-books-right, home-top-posts

His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

In Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife, a young Ghanian woman leaves home for the promise of the metropolis of Accra. But upward mobility comes with a price.

booksSusan Blumberg-KasonOctober 13, 2020home-top-posts, book-recs, latest-books-right

Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride

A nameless woman enters a hotel room. She’s been here once before. In the years since, the room hasn’t changed, but she has. Forever caught between check-in and check-out, she will go on to occupy other hotel rooms. From Avignon to Oslo, Auckland to Austin, each is as anonymous as the last but bound by the rules of her choosing.

wellness, booksSusan Blumberg-KasonOctober 5, 2020latest-books, blog-list, book-recs, latest-books-rightComment

Carmen Suen's Reading List

Carmen Suen, a Hong Kong writer who moved to the U.S. with her Black-American husband, examines Asian attitudes toward racism and what we can all learn by reading.

books, featuresCarmen SuenOctober 5, 2020blog-list, latest-books-right Comment

No Wrong Way to Travel: A Conversation With Maggie Downs

Maggie Downs spent a year backpacking solo through seventeen countries―completing the bucket list her dying mother could not. We spoke about outlasting fear, seeing the world on a person level, and what to do when the thing that makes you who you are is suddenly off-limits.

books, travelTiffany HawkOctober 5, 2020latest-books, latest-books-left Comment

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic offers a refreshing departure from stereotypical themes and a scathing critique of the colonial point-of-view that makes them so ubiquitous.

A Reinvention Reading List

Lisa Niver, now a prolific travel writer, blogger and television commentator, writes about reinventing herself after divorce and the books that helped her succeed.

travel, booksLisa NiverSeptember 29, 2020latest-books-right, popular Comments

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