In our Monday morning reading: an excerpt from Denis Johnson’s new book, Alexander Chee on gender and reading, thoughts on Nell Zink’s debut and the new album from Iceage, and more.
Continuing in my read-through of Harry Mathews’s body of work, I recently delved into his novel The Conversions. It begins in a recognizable fashion: the narrator is invited to the home of a wealthy man, where he takes part in a competition; winning it, he’s given a mysterious adze. As the novel continues, the narrator must delve into the adze’s history in order to answer three fairly surreal questions. And while this might seem like the framework for an adventure story, […]
This morning: No Wave photos from Catherine Ceresole, Denis Johnson’s literary influence, Roxane Gay on her new novel, Bill Knott remembered, and more.
Cross-country flights often give me a chance to work through the larger side of my to-read pile. That’s how I came to read John Berger’s Selected Essays and T.J. Binyon’s Pushkin in the last week and change. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Confessions ended up on my radar through WORD’s Classics book group. Initially, this was going to be what this week’s column would be about: Weighty Tomes, door-stoppers; books with a size suitable for comment. Instead, I’m going with novels. Weird, idiosyncratic […]
The 2013 VIDA count has been released, Denis Johnson discusses a new short story, the surreal fiction of Laird Barron, an interview with Nina McConigley, and more.
At The L Magazine, Vol.1’s Tobias Carroll suggests five underrated 90s bands whose music should get the deluxe reissue treatment. It goes without saying that his fellow editors heartily agree. You know what’s awesome? Norman Brannon and Willie Nelson contributed to the same book, that’s what. Gary Hawkins on filming Harry Crews. Gabrielle Gantz revisits the anthology Brooklyn Noir. The Outlet has a fine write-up of this week’s PANK Invasion at WORD. Over at Treehouse, Matthew Specktor and Michael Wolfe […]
Posted by Jason Diamond I’ve written and read my share of year-end lists, and I’m at the point now where I’m not totally sure what sort of purpose they serve, but I continue to read and write them anyway. I’m not trying to sound jaded about peoples roundups of the year that was, in fact I rather like them and really enjoy doing my own. I guess my issue tends to be more of the way you’ve got to dig […]
A roundup of things consumed by our editors. Jason Diamond Ann Beattie’s Mrs. Nixon was my company when I waited in line at the DMV in Herald Square for two hours yesterday, trying to get my drivers license for the first time in New York. Even though I’d had a DL in another state for ten years, since I didn’t renew, I’m a new driver in the eyes of Governor Cuomo. That means I get to go through the entire process […]