Vol.1 Brooklyn’s August 2015 Books Preview

Looking at the books due out this month, one can find an impressive array of styles, genres, and aesthetics on display. Do you like incisive essays about American society and culture? How about well-received debut fiction, or collections spanning decades of work? Regardless of what you’re seeking, August holds an abundance of literary riches. Here are some of the books due out this month that we’re most excited about.

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Michael Dirda Makes the Case for “The Green Man”

Would you like to read Michael Dirda’s introduction to the new edition of Kingsley Amis’s The Green Man? Because you can — and it’s a worthwhile essay, looking at how Amis blends elements of the traditional ghost story with his own preferred musings on philosophy, disillusionment, and the drinking life. When Maurice is asked, “Why do you look as if something’s after you all the time?,” one answer might be “Because I’ve seen a ghost.” But another might well be “Because the […]

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Talking Kinglsey Amis; Raising Pints

This May, NYRB Classics will release new editions of Kingsley Amis’s The Green Man and The Alteration, which feature his takes on ghost stories and alternate histories, respectfully. To mark the occasion, Lev Grossman, Nathaniel Adams, and Jen Vafidis will speak about Amis’s life and work on the evening of Monday, May 6th, beginning at 7 pm, at The Half King.

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Afternoon Bites: Ursula K. Le Guin, Rev. Nørb and Nick Fury, Amis and Larkin, and More

Happy 90th birthday, Stan Lee. SPIN on Wayne Coyne’s very strange 2012. At the London Review of Books, Christopher Tayler reviews Richard Bradford’s The Odd Couple: The Curious Friendship between Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin. Mike Faloon on Rev. Nørb’s book and Nick Fury’s eyepatch. Young Money Poetry, taking place on 12/30 at Microscope Gallery, looks like a fine reading. Our own Tobias Carroll looks at two new collections of Ursula K. Le Guin’s short fiction. Zach Barocas (Bells≥/Jawbox/The Cultural Society) on […]

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Afternoon Bites: Inside “Field & Stream,” Gessen on Larkin and Amis, Presidential Reading, and More

  Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez talked comics with The AV Club. Sam Sifton takes us inside the latest issue of Field & Stream. Keith Gessen on the friendship between Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin. Hector Tobar looks at what the reading choices of 2012’s Presidential candidates say about them. Roxane Gay on revelation. Vulture chats with the folks behind the deeply comprehensive Game of Thrones site Westeros.org. Maura Johnston on Pink and Carly Rae Jespen. William Basinski is interviewed at Tiny […]

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Tonight: Kingsley Amis Is Celebrated

As a reminder: tonight marks the celebration of NYRB Classics’ new editions of two Kingsley Amis novels, Lucky Jim and The Old Devils. Things kick off at the Housing Works Bookstore at 7 p.m., with Rosie Schaap, Parul Sehgal, and Maud Newton sharing their thoughts on the life and work of Mr. Amis. Brooklyn Gin will be provided. (Also of note: Jen Vafidis’s essay “Drinking Like a Kingsley Amis Character.”) The details for tonight’s event can also be found on the ubiquitous Facebook […]

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