C.J. Sansom, who transported millions of readers to 16th-century England with his erudite, psychologically complex mystery novels about Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked lawyer turned investigator navigating political intrigue during the Tudor era, died April 27 at a hospice center near his longtime home in Brighton, England. Read more
Month: April 2024
The Essential Joan Didion
Didion was not really out to inspire us. She was looking at us and telling us what she saw, including our compulsion to weave myths for survival. Her distinctive prose and sharp eye were always tuned to an outsider’s frequency, even when she was actually an insider (as with most of her writing on Hollywood). Her essays are almost reflexively skeptical; she wrote with authority borne not so much from experience as from a refusal to give in to dogma. Read more
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A Novelist Who Finds Inspiration in Germany’s Tortured History
She became a writer because her country vanished overnight. Jenny Erpenbeck, now 57, was 22 in 1989, when the Berlin Wall cracked by accident, then collapsed. She was having a “girls’ evening out,” she said, so she had no idea what had happened until the next morning. When a professor discussed it in class, she said, it became real to her.
The country she knew, the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, remains a crucial setting for most of her striking, precise fiction. Her work, which has grown in acuity and emotional power, combines the complications of German and Soviet history with the lives of her characters, including those of her own family members, whose experiences echo with the past like contrapuntal music.
Her latest novel to be translated into English, “Kairos,” has been a breakthrough. It is now on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize and considered a favorite to win the award late next month. Read more
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Winners of the L.A. Times Book Prize Announced
The spotlight shined on great literature Friday night at the 44th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium, where winners took the stage to celebrate their honors and, in some cases, call attention to the free speech controversy unfolding on campus. A political undercurrent ran through the night’s speeches following the university’s cancellation of a commencement speech by pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum. Read more
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17 States Are Considering Laws That Would Imprison Librarians
Once upon a time, working as a librarian in America was not considered a dangerous vocation. Rewarding, of course. Sweet, sure. Occasionally dull, yes, but a lot of jobs can be boring. Yet, for the most part, most people working as librarians in the US did not wake up, head to work, and wonder, What are the chances I’m going to be charged with a crime for letting someone take out a book today? But thanks to GOP state legislators, that’s now become a legitimate fear. Read more
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Sleep in Your Favourite Author’s Home
From Agatha Christie to Ian Fleming to Jane Austen, here are five famous author homes-turned hotels where bookworms can lay their heads. Read more
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Announcing the Winners of the 2024 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction
Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year’s edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Amor Towles has brought his own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices. Read more
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Eight Cookbooks Worth Reading Cover to Cover
These are not quick-and-dirty weeknight cookbooks, nor are they written to bend to a trend, as with the keto and air-fryer manuals that seem to proliferate like weeds these days. For a cookbook to be a great read, it should be written with a living, breathing (and often busy) home cook in mind, and also elevate and expand the genre. Read more
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‘Under the Bridge’ Adaptation Premieres on Hulu
Reena Virk, a fourteen-year-old girl, went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Seven teenage girls and a boy were accused of the savage murder. Watch trailer
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Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, Dies at 82
Daniel C. Dennett, one of the most widely read and debated American philosophers, whose prolific works explored consciousness, free will, religion and evolutionary biology, died on Friday in Portland, Maine. He was 82. Read more
