In our morning reading: checking in with Jace Clayton, fiction from Porochista Khakpour, and much more.
Morning Bites: Ionesco’s Birthday, Scott Cheshire Interviewed, “The Baltimore Atrocities,” Sarah Gerard, and More
In our Wednesday morning reading: tributes to the late founder of Coffee House Press, interviews with Scott Cheshire and Sarah Gerard, a history of the mod-punk band Chisel, the inspiration for Lolita, and more.
We’ll be off for the rest of the week, and will return on Sunday morning with new fiction. See you then.
Afternoon Bites: Hari Kunzru on Ben Lerner, Emily St. John Mandel, IKEA Horror Fiction, Carl Wilson on Ty Segall, and More
Ben Lerner’s latest is reviewed by Hari Kunzru, talking dystopia with Emily St. John Mandel, the musical influence of Scott Miller, Elizabeth Ellen interviews Aaron Burch, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Geoff Dyer, Returned Manuscripts, Stanley Crawford Interviewed, NYHC History, and More
A look at the works of Geoff Dyer, a look at NYHC history, interviews with Carl Wilson and Stanley Crawford, Ted Leo and Aimee Mann playing tv theme songs, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Juliet Escoria, Indie Bookstore Success Stories, Alice Munro, The Both Interviewed, and More
Interviews with Juliet Escoria and The Both, notes on Alice Munro on film, a review of the new album from Woods, thriving NYC indie bookstores, and more.
The brilliance of Lookout! Records
Posted by Jason Diamond I really don’t think I can come up with one punk label that had as huge an effect on me as Lookout! Records did when I was a teenager. While my tastes would change as I got older, there was hardly anything as thrilling to a 14-year-old kid in the suburbs than to receive a Lookout! poster/catalog in the mail, then checking off nearly every release that I wanted to buy. As you may or may not have […]
Morning Bites: NYRB almost at 50, Person of the Year, Women in famous novels, Updike’s house, Ted Leo’s faves, and more
The Protestor is the Time magazine Person of the Year. The magazine’s managing editor, Kurt Andersen, explains why. The Atlantic takes a look at 50 or so fantastic years of the New York Review of Books. At The Nervous Breakdown: Sabina Murray on the women of famous novels by Jonathan Franzen and Jeffrey Eugenides. David Haglund at Slate wonders if people pay more for houses once owned by famous writers? With that, Vol. 1 is ready to bid one trillion dollars on […]
Afternoon Bites: Joe Hill, Robert Christgau, Ted Leo on Fugazi, and more
“From where I sit inside the whale, ’70s rockmags and alternaweeklies generated a lost trove of American criticism. With Willis and Nelson added to the eight other names now compiled one way or another — Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Robert Palmer, Richard Meltzer, Dave Marsh, Nick Tosches, Jon Landau, and myself — the early record is in a sense complete.” Robert Christgau on recent books by or about Ellen Willis and Paul Nelson. Joe Hill on where he does his […]