We Ate Standing Up
by Angela Edward
I landed at JFK at night, around 10:30 p.m., already unsure. Baggage claim moved slowly. I stood watching the carousel loop again and again, the same suitcases circling back like a bad joke. When mine finally came, I lifted it off the belt and felt how heavy it was. We did not talk much. I could feel him watching me, waiting for something I could not name.
At Slate, notes on the controversy over Rachel Cusk’s new novel. The Brooklyn Book Bodega has a number of upcoming events. At Shabby Doll House, a chat with Scott McClanahan. The longlist for this year’s Booker Prize has been announced. Looking for some July books in translation recommendations? At Gemini Sessions, an interview with Eric Boyd. The New York Times has a guide to midtown Manhattan bookstores. Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook.
From reading the first fifty or so pages, a reader might be left with two key impressions of Paul Tremblay’s novel Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep. The first is that it represents something of a return to Tremblay’s crime-fiction roots, albeit with a science fiction twist; the second is that, as the title suggests, it’s an homage to Philip K. Dick. Both are true, up to a point, but this book also represents something of a genre-straddling sleight of hand.
In our morning reading: an excerpt from Colin Asher’s new book, thoughts on BASIC’s latest album, and more.
Grace’s Tree
by Selen Ozturk
Paul asked me to kill a tree. I needed a permit under the Marin County Municipal Ordinance Code §223.24. I shat and ate permits at this point.
In our weekend reading: talking books with Valeria Luiselli, thoughts on Scott McClanahan’s new book, and more.
In our morning reading: thoughts on Solvej Balle’s fiction, a Colson Whitehead-inspired walking tour, and more.
In our afternoon reading: Tricky on music, revisiting Paul Klee’s art, and more.