This morning: Adelle Waldman revisits the milieu of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., reviews of books by Leslie Jamison and Stanley Crawdford, an interview with Karen Russell, and more.
Well, I tried. Given that the folks at Flavorwire are prompting the reading and re-reading of a number of Shirley Jackson novels, I figured I’d delve into a few myself, beginning with The Haunting of Hill House. Said novel fell into the category of books I’d been meaning to read for ages but hadn’t; after reading the first 50-odd pages of the used copy I’d bought earlier in the month, I could see why. Jackson’s command of mood and atmosphere was […]
Start your day off with a Karen Russell interviewed, thoughts on Lorrie Moore’s new collection, an in-depth look at the Coen Brothers’ films, Sarah Rose Etter on the spine, and more.
Reading about science, economics, and history in order to get out of our bubble. It became important for me in 2013 to read things that weren’t about Brooklyn, American literature, booze, grub, hair, or the fifty-five TV shows you just have to be watching. I get through non-fiction quicker than novels, because I’m not tearing it apart while I read it. So I took to the stars and the soil whenever possible. Livescience, Orion, The New Yorker, Cosmos, Discover, Outside, […]
Yesterday was Halloween — and with that in mind, a lot of the reading I did in the week leading up to the holiday in question fell onto the supernaturally-charged side of things. Sometimes that led to ominous, terrifying work; at others, ghosts and hauntings took on a knowing, almost comic air. We’ll start with a trio of collections. I have no idea why Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove has been on my to-read shelf unread; the only reason I […]
Thoughts on the latest from Lee Ranaldo (and the legacy of Sonic Youth); a review of Vijay Iyer’s Teju Cole-inspired composition; Pitchfork begins a look back at a golden era of hip-hop; Wayne Koestenbaum’s new essay collection is reviewed; and more.
Karen Russell on her MacArthur fellowship, celebrating the 90th birthday of Wallace Stevens’s Harmonium, catching up with John Freeman, and more.
Genius grants for Donald Antrim and Karen Russell, looking back at James Baldwin’s essays, Parquet Courts has a mixtape, Jeff Jackson has a playlist, and more.