E. Ce Miller is a writer, reader, activist, feminist, and yoga instructor, usually in desperate need of a hairbrush. Currently she writes about books for Bustle, and has been a writing mentor for the PEN America Prison Writing Program and the Afghan Women's Writing Project. Her words have appeared in Culture Trip, Midwestern Gothic, Sixfold Journal, The Sun Magazine, and more. Sometimes she writes articles about weddings… because who doesn’t love eating mini quiche appetizers in a trumpet skirt?
'A River Of Stars' Is A Powerful Story About The Unique Challenges Of Immigrant Mothers
“If you’re of Chinese descent, “Ni cong nali lai?” is often the first or second question you get from another Chinese person: where are you from?” award-winning author Vanessa Hua, whose debut novel A River of Stars, tells Bustle. The novel takes…
By E. Ce Miller
This Poetry Collection Might Help You Make Sense Of The State Of The World Right Now
“Here’s the problem — is it a problem? — with writers and poets: we think every moment is worthy of a poem,” Ada Limón tells Bustle. “When people say they can’t find anything to write about, I realize I feel the exact opposite. There is too much to…
By E. Ce Miller
I Desperately Needed These Books About Motherhood. So Why Did I Avoid Them So Long?
The books that escorted me into new motherhood were, shall we say, not all that’s currently trending. Sure, I took in all the typical fare: a shelf full of What to Expect When You’re Expecting books and anything that told me what size fruit my fetus…
By E. Ce Miller
This New Memoir Imagines What It Would Be Like To Be BFFs With Your Favorite Dead Author
You’ll be able to recognize Nell Stevens’ writing for two qualities: one, her books are blend of memoir and fiction, memoir and research, memoir and history; and two, she’s a writer who’s great at writing about not writing. Stevens’ first…
By E. Ce Miller
Do You Refuse To Stop Reading A Book, Even If You Hate It? We Can Relate
If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls (aren’t we all?) chances are you’ll well remember that moment when book-lover Rory Gilmore stood on the lawn of one of Harvard University’s many libraries, overwhelmed by the sudden realization that no matter how…
By E. Ce Miller
First Love, Faith, And Cults Collide In Summer's Buzziest New Novel
R.O. Kwon’s debut novel, The Incendiaries, begins with a domestic terrorist attack. The novel’s narrator, former Bible college student Will Kendall, imagines the bombing — committed by his former girlfriend and cult member, Phoebe Lin. "…This is…
By E. Ce Miller
'Gone Girl' Was WAY More Rebellious Than I Initially Realized
With the recent adaptation of her debut novel, Sharp Objects — only the latest of HBO’s female-led dramas — novelist Gillian Flynn’s name is back on the tip of readers’, and now, viewers’, tongues. (The first episode of the eight-episode series drew…
By E. Ce Miller
This Author Made A Bucket List Of 30 Goals — And She Actually Did Them All Before She Turned 30
In 2013 Marina Shifrin went viral — for a video ("An Interpretive Dance For My Boss Set To Kanye West's Gone") depicting the then-25-year-old quitting her job at a Taiwanese animation company. It’s a moment Shifrin documents in her just-published…
By E. Ce Miller
This 'Pride And Prejudice' Retelling Is Told From The POV Of Mary Bennet
“Because I am plain, others have always assumed in me a disinterest to the opposite sex, to romance, and, accordingly, to marriage. But I will write here, as if with my own life’s blood, that I have indeed loved. I have loved not once or twice but…
By E. Ce Miller
9 Books That Explain Why The Trump-Russia Investigation Is "Bigger Than Watergate"
For many of us Americans, it’s difficult to remember where the current White House scandal began — was it with former national security advisor Michael Flynn? Something to do with former FBI Director James Comey? Someone else who was formerly in…
By E. Ce Miller
This Novel About Immigration, Family, And Identity Is A Must-Read For Every Millennial
What the bio in the back of Lucy Tan’s novel, What We Were Promised won’t tell you is that the debut author was once “caked in the face alongside Jennifer Lawrence” — a nod to Tan’s early aspirations (actress, as well as writer) and her brief…
By E. Ce Miller
Why It's So Horrifying That Donald Trump Doesn't Read Books
Much has been made of the fact that one of the most literary presidents in U.S. history (by some accounts, Barack Obama recommended 97 books during his time in office) was immediately succeeded by a man who might not recognize a book if he tripped…
By E. Ce Miller
This Book Will Make You Rethink What You Know About Mermaid Mythology
The young woman at the center of Samantha Hunt’s novel, The Seas, (being re-released by Tin House Books on July 10) is one you won’t quickly forget. In fact, she will haunt you. A 19-year-old outcast in a remote fishing town located so far north…
By E. Ce Miller
The 9 Most Fascinating Narrators You Can't Trust In Literature
I’ve always had something of a love/hate relationship with the unreliable narrators of literature. You know who I’m talking about: the Humbert Humberts and Patrick Batemans, Holden Caulfields and Mrs. de Winters of the fictional world — the voices…
By E. Ce Miller
I Re-Read 'Lolita' In The Age Of #MeToo & It Was Even Worse Than I Remembered
It’s a novel that’s been described as everything from ‘highbrow pornography’ to a metaphor for its author’s immigrant experience of America. In an essay that concludes the 50th anniversary edition of Lolita, Russian-American novelist Vladimir…
By E. Ce Miller
Why Are We All So Obsessed With Joan Didion?
She’s a writer who’s been called the ‘ultimate literary celebrity’ and ‘fashion’s favorite icon’; she’s one of the most influential essayists of her generation; she's a literary legend; she's woman who embodies that classic, old school definition of…
By E. Ce Miller
What I Learned Reading Harry Potter For The First Time As An Adult
I was 10-years-old when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was first published in the United States — just a year younger than Harry himself was upon meeting readers for the first time — and too deep into my Anne of Green Gables/Boxcar Children…
By E. Ce Miller
This Novel About A '90s Summer Camp Is Actually The Book To Read In This Political Moment
Heather Abel’s debut novel might be set in the post-Cold War, pre-Gulf War summer of 1990, but the story she tells — one of activism and idealism, wealth and inequality, the fissures between “blue collar Americans” and the “educated elite”, couldn’t…
By E. Ce Miller
What The Book-Lover In Your Life ACTUALLY Means When They Say These 18 Things
Do you ever look at the bookworm in your life and think: is there more to what you’re saying than is actually being said here? Or maybe your book-loving bestie drops terms like “DNF” and “TBR”, and you’ve been too embarrassed about being behind on…
By E. Ce Miller
My Daughter Was Just Born — But I'm Already Thinking About The Books I Want Her To Read
From my earliest memories, there hasn’t been a single moment in my life when I haven’t been starting, finishing, or in the middle of a book. From The Rainbow Fish (the very first book I remember reading) through The Boxcar Children and The Magic…
By E. Ce Miller
