He and his band, the Texas Jewboys, won acclaim for their satirical takes on American culture. He later wrote detective novels and ran for governor of Texas. Read more
Month: June 2024
Hisham Matar Wins Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
At the heart of My Friends is a real-life event from 1984, when officials opened fire on protesters at the Libyan embassy in London. “Matar’s response to those gunshots is a richly sustained meditation on exile and friendship, love and distance, deepening with each page as layers of recollection and experience accrue,” said writer Alexandra Harris, who chaired the political fiction judging panel. Read more
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Five Books for People Who Really Love Books
If you really love books, or you want to love them more, I have five recommendations. None of these are traditional literary criticism; they’re not dry or academic. They take all kinds of forms (essay, novel, memoir) and focus on the many connections we can form with what we read. Those relationships might be passionate, obsessive, even borderline inappropriate—and this is what makes the books so lovable. Read more
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Arundhati Roy Wins PEN Pinter Prize
Indian author Arundhati Roy has been awarded the PEN Pinter prize two weeks after Indian authorities granted permission to prosecute the writer over comments she made about Kashmir 14 years ago. Read more
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In Search of the Rarest Book in American Literature
My first personal encounter with the rarest book in American literature was memorable, even moving, for many reasons, but its physical appearance wasn’t one of them. If ever a book ought not to be judged by its cover, Edgar Allan Poe’s debut collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, is that book. Known as the Black Tulip, only twelve copies appear to have survived since its publication in July 1827. That one of the last two in private hands is coming to auction this month, not quite two centuries later, marks an historic bibliophilic event. Read more
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‘Bear’ by Julia Phillips
In the beautiful and haunting latest from Phillips (Disappearing Earth), two 20-something sisters contend with economic precarity and their mother’s terminal illness on present-day San Juan Island, Wash. Read more
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The Best Audiobook Narrators are True Artists. Let’s Celebrate Them.
June is Audiobook Appreciation Month, a time to celebrate the great art of audiobook narration in this, the Golden Age of Audiobooks — as it will be remembered once AI takes over. Read more
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The Authors of Summer’s Scariest Books Share Their Horror Picks
We asked nine of this summer’s buzziest horror writers to tell you about their new books and share their best recommendations for truly terrifying tales. Read more
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What to Read to Understand How People Get Tricked
The six books below all delve into deception. Some tell tales of elaborate confidence schemes; others interrogate why people are frequently defenseless against cons that, from the outside, seem obvious. Several books also dig into how we’re liable to deceive ourselves, often to our detriment. Each is a fascinating read that will stick with you and, perhaps, make you a bit more likely to realize when you’re not seeing the truth. Read more
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Tony Award Winners Announced
“The Outsiders,” a muscular musical based on the classic young adult novel, was named best new musical at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, while “Stereophonic,” a behind-the music play about a band making an album, was named best new play. Read more
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