Year: 2025

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‘Vera, or Faith’ by Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart is one of the best comedians in literature today, and like all the great ones, his humor elucidates as much as it amuses. That’s especially true of Vera, or Faith, a richly imagined tale of a unique family in an America that is succumbing all too willingly to technology’s intrusions and the threat of oppression. Read more

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He’s One of the Finest British Novelists You’ve Never Heard Of

Benjamin Wood is one of the finest British novelists of his generation, but you’ve probably never heard of him. The 44-year-old author from Stockport has written five psychologically suspenseful books with stories that are so unique and specific, it feels like they must come directly from real life. Read more

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‘The CIA Book Club’ by Charlie English

Today, when “subversive” is the standard accolade for a campus poet, English’s book is a bracing reminder that, not so long ago, forbidden literature really could help tip the balance of history. He persuasively argues that the ferment in Poland, fueled in part by Minden’s cultural contraband, was a catalyst for the chain reaction that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of other Eastern Bloc governments. “Soft power” wasn’t so soft. Read more

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Quirky Crime Series Revolving Around a Bookshop in London in 1946 Is Coming Soon

At the heart of Bookish is Gabriel Book, played with trademark wit and warmth by [Mark] Gatiss himself. Gabriel isn’t your average sleuth. He’s an antiquarian bookshop owner in post-war London, 1946 to be exact, whose life is as layered as the tomes lining his shelves. Imagine Sherlock Holmes with a love of first editions and a penchant for quoting obscure poets, and you’re halfway there. Gabriel’s shop on Archangel Lane is more than a business, it’s a haven for the lost, the curious, and, as it turns out, those with a knack for trouble. Read more Watch trailer

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Federal Judge Sides With Anthropic in Lawsuit Over Training AI on Books Without Authors’ Permission

Federal judge William Alsup ruled that it was legal for Anthropic to train its AI models on published books without the authors’ permission. This marks the first time that the courts have given credence to AI companies’ claim that fair use doctrine can absolve AI companies from fault when they use copyrighted materials to train large language models (LLMs) … In this particular case, Bartz v. Anthropic, the group of plaintiff authors also brought into question the manner in which Anthropic attained and stored their works. According to the lawsuit, Anthropic sought to create a “central library” of “all the books in the world” to keep “forever.” But millions of these copyrighted books were downloaded for free from pirate sites, which is unambiguously illegal. While the judge granted that Anthropic’s training of these materials was a fair use, the court will hold a trial about the nature of the “central library.” Read more

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The Cult Classic That Expanded What African Literature Could Be

This month, THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD returns to life in a striking new edition, along with Tutuola’s 1954 follow-up, “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” with introductions by Wole Soyinka and Kaveh Akbar. Originally published under the Evergreen imprint of Grove Press, the books appeared alongside the storied house’s rogues’ gallery of midcentury American and European avant-garde authors like William Burroughs, Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. Read more

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