From Covid misinformation to the JFK assassination, these compelling reads explore how conspiracies seduce believers Read more
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Category: Miscellaneous
Are Authors Now Writing for TV Producers Rather Than Readers?
The new novel from Taffy Brodesser-Akner has all the makings of a great TV show, so it’s no wonder an adaptation is already in the works. Is the entertainment industry’s enthusiasm for snapping up novels having an impact on writers? Read more
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‘Quincas Borba’ by Machado de Assis
A welcome, fresh translation of an overlooked classic, a superb novel of (bad) manners. Read more
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The Sports Novel is Enjoying a Renaissance
In the beginning, it was just for boys. Originating in the late nineteenth century as a popular, morally instructive piece of entertainment for preteen males, the sports novel has had a long, slow climb to respectability. Ever since it began to encroach on more elevated terrain in the middle of the twentieth century, the genre has maintained an uneasy relationship with the higher claims of literature. With its cast of larger-than-life characters, its central place in the lives of so many fans, and its mirroring of the world beyond the field, the sports universe is a rich site of inquiry for the receptive novelist. Yet the novel of athletics has only sporadically taken advantage of these possibilities. Now a wide range of writers have picked up the thread again, employing a dizzying array of stylistic and thematic approaches that have gone a long way toward refreshing the genre. Read more
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Why More Americans Can’t Afford to Stop Working
Retirement is increasingly becoming a luxury many American workers cannot afford. With rising housing costs and medical expenses and without the pensions that buoyed previous generations, millions of older Americans can’t stop working. Read more
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Read Your Way Through Prague
Prague has survived wars and political strife — and through it all, its literary scene has thrived. Jaroslav Kalfar, the author of “Spaceman of Bohemia,” recommends books that connect readers to the city. 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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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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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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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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