Hundreds of the writer’s furnishings and personal items will be sold at auction next month, offering fans the opportunity to acquire a piece of her legacy. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Author: GR
A Cookbook for Surviving the End of the World
This cookbook of ideas rethinks our eating habits and traditions, challenges our food taboos, and proposes new recipes for humanity’s survival. These more than sixty projects propose new ways to think and make food, offering tools for creative action rather than traditional recipes. They imagine modifying the human body to digest cellulose, turning plastic into food, tasting smog, extracting spices and medicines from sewage, and growing meat in the lab. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
‘The Singularities’ by John Banville
The Irish novelist John Banville writes prose of such luscious elegance that it’s all too easy to view his work as an aesthetic project, an exercise in pleasure giving … But what drives Banville — and his relentless hunt for the ideal adjective and simile and cadence — is a desire to touch something elusive and not quite nameable while providing a parallel or overlapping commentary on that doomed but never pointless effort. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
10 Best-Selling Horror Novels That Will Scare You to the Bone
Some novels are straight-up horror while others are more subtle in their fright. One thing is for sure, all will create an atmosphere that is right at home during the spookiest time of year. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
The Essential Philip K. Dick
Perhaps you’ve nurtured a suspicion that you have the makings of a Dick fan. The writer’s influence is everywhere, though mainstream acknowledgment of his talents arrived belatedly. (His obituary in this newspaper is under 200 words and lists his age of death incorrectly. He was 53, not 54.) The question is where to start. Dick’s published output — at least 35 novels and countless short stories — ranges from sublime to inscrutable, which is partly a result of volume. His book advances were skimpy and there was a family to support, so he wrote quickly, often fueled by amphetamine tablets. (Dick’s typing speed: 120 words per minute.) If you’re a stickler for prose style and hold a zero-tolerance policy toward the word “boobies,” this is not your fellow. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Is It Wrong to Not Finish a Book?
Do you give a book a certain amount of time, or a certain number of pages, before giving up? Do you never give up? How do you decide? Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Frankfurt Book Fair Attracts 180,000 Attendees
The return to a semi-normal book fair was welcome and proved that the event, despite its smaller footprint, remains vital. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
‘Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World’ by Irene Vallejo
Written in a lush and immersive style and shot through with sparkling turns of phrase, this is catnip for bibliophiles and ancient history buffs. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
No, Capitalism and the Internet Will Not Free China’s People
The West has been wrong about China. It was long assumed that capitalism, the emergence of a middle class and the internet would cause China to eventually adopt Western political ideas. But these ideas cannot even begin to take root because the Communist Party has never allowed the intellectual soil needed for them to germinate. And it never will. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Shehan Karunatilaka Wins Booker Prize for ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’
The Sri Lankan writer received the award, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world, for his second novel, which examines the trauma of his country’s decades-long civil war. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
