Skeletons in the Closet, originally published in 1976 and newly translated by Alyson Waters, is up there with his brutal best. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Month: November 2023
‘Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather’ by Benjamin Taylor
Slender, discerning … Should appeal to anyone — novice or expert — ready to explore Cather’s life and work in the company of a critic so alert to the shimmering subtlety of her style and the hard years of effort that went into crystallizing it … With great feeling and deeply informed perception, Taylor helps us readers realize anew the sustained effort it took for Cather to meet ‘the rest of herself,’ in her novels and her life. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
AS Byatt, Author and Critic, Dies Aged 87
Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, who wrote under the name AS Byatt, authored complex and critically acclaimed novels, including the Booker prize-winning Possession and her examination of artistic creation, The Children’s Book. Over her career, she won a swathe of literary awards, from the Booker to a Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters. Read more
Justin Torres, Author of ‘Blackouts,’ Wins National Book Award for Fiction
Ned Blackhawk received the nonfiction award, with “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.” Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World
“This is my favorite wall,” Madeline Kripke told Narratively reporter Daniel Kreiger when he visited her West Village apartment in 2013. She shined a flashlight on glass-fronted shelves jammed with dictionaries full of the slanguage and cryptolect of small and likely overlooked communities. Kreiger listed some of the groups represented at that time, among them cowboys and flappers, mariners and gamblers, soldiers, circus workers, and thieves. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Tania Branigan’s ‘Red Memory’ Wins 2023 Cundill History Prize
Judge and writer Adam Gopnik said that Red Memory is a “haunting” read. “Haunting for the memories, many of them horrible, that it evokes; haunting because so much of that memory has been suppressed or repressed by the Chinese Communist party in the years since; and haunting because of how violent ruptures in social fabric can often seem to heal themselves while leaving a scar behind.” Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Spanish Author Luis Mateo Díez Wins Cervantes Prize
Spanish author Luis Mateo Díez has been awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s highest literary honor, Culture Minister Miquel Iceta said Tuesday. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Jean-Baptiste Andrea Wins Goncourt Prize With Sprawling Novel
Jean-Baptiste Andrea received the Goncourt Prize, France’s most prestigious literary award, on Tuesday for his novel “Watching Over Her.” The novel, published by L’Iconoclaste, is a sprawling fresco that follows Michelangelo “Mimo” Vitaliani, a dwarf and skilled sculptor who at the end of his life is said to be “watching over” his masterpiece, a mysteriously powerful sculpture. Read more
Steinbeck’s Vintage Sardine Boat Makes its Modern Debut
Darwin had the Beagle, Hemingway the Pilar, and for writer John Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts, there was the Western Flyer, hallowed ground for their six-week journey in the spring of 1940 to the Sea of Cortez. Their sojourn was brief, but their observations of marine life and ruminations on human life — portrayed in Steinbeck’s “The Log from the Sea of Cortez” — have reached across generations, inspiring literary and scientific devotees whose affection for the boat sees value far beyond any modern practicality. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
