As libraries become public stages for social problems — homelessness, drug use, mental health — the people who work there are burning out. Read more
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‘The Magic Mountain’ Saved My Life
When I was young and adrift, Thomas Mann’s novel gave me a sense of purpose. Today, its vision is startlingly relevant. Read more
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Dorothy Allison, Author of ‘Bastard Out of Carolina,’ Dies at 75
Dorothy Allison, who wrote with lyrical, pungent wit about her working-class Southern upbringing — and about the incest and violence that shaped her — and whose acclaimed 1992 novel, “Bastard Out of Carolina,” based on her harrowing childhood, made her a literary star, died on Tuesday at her home in Guerneville, Calif., in Sonoma County. Read more
Read Your Way Through Shanghai
Shanghai straddles the past and the future, a dizzying prism of many histories and cultures. The poet Sally Wen Mao shares books that illuminate this cosmopolitan city. Read more
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In Tumultuous Times, Readers Turn to ‘Healing Fiction’
Cozy, whimsical novels — often featuring magical cats — that have long been popular in Japan and Korea are taking off globally. Fans say they offer comfort during a chaotic time. Read more
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Adaptation of ‘Say Nothing’ by Patrick Radden Keefe is Coming Soon to Hulu
FX’s limited series Say Nothing is a gripping story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The 9-episode series is based on the book by Patrick Radden Keefe. Spanning four decades, the series opens with the shocking disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of ten who was abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again. Watch trailer
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25 Years of NYRB Classics
Since September 30, 1999, when New York Review Books Classics brought its first 10 titles into the world under the stewardship of founder and longtime editor Edwin Frank, the press has breathed new literary life into works spanning many and, along the way, invited a redefining of the word “classic” itself. Books by such canonical cornerstones as Dante, Balzac, and Stendhal find their place here, but so too do the stylish modernism of Robert Walser, the sociophilosophical experiments of Andrey Platonov, and the sideways histories of Iris Origo, authors whose positions as touchstones of American literary culture were earned more recently. Read more
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Adaptation of ‘Conclave’ by Robert Harris Is in Theaters Now
CONCLAVE follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events – selecting the new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church. Watch trailer
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How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
A genteel lot of librarians, academicians, historians, and researchers, the civilians recruited to form the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA) in the early days of WWII had more experience lurking in library stacks than skulking around the grimy back alleys of foreign capitals. And yet it was precisely this expertise working among ephemera and archives that made them so attractive to those tasked with forming an intelligence-gathering organization that could provide information critical to winning the war. Read more
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Kathleen DuVal Wins 2024 Cundill History Prize
The announcement was made at an event in Montreal on Oct. 30 by jury chair Rana Mitter. DuVal was named the winner for her book Native Nations: A Millenium in North America (Penguin Random House). The book is a 1,000-year history of North America. DuVal teaches early American and American Indian history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Read more
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