In our afternoon reading: interviews with Matthew Binder and Ben Fama, a report from the Unsound Festival, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Matthew Binder on Writing, Sean Howe Interviewed, Albert Camus’s Plays, and More
In our afternoon reading: interviews with Matthew Binder and Sean Howe, revisiting Albert Camus’s plays, and more.
“The World Is Absurd”: An Interview With Matthew Binder
Pure Cosmos Club, the new novel from Matthew Binder, goes full supercollider in the way it takes seemingly disparate ideas and smashes them together to create something wildly unpredictable. The novel’s protagonist, an ambitious artist with a self-defeating streak, dramatically fluctuating luck, and a beloved canine companion, eventually enters the orbit of the organization that gives the book its title. I talked with Binder about the book’s genesis, the collaboration inherent to writing it, and how his own experience dovetailed with the book’s themes.
Shoot For the Stars: A Review of Matthew Binder’s “Pure Cosmos Club”
I’ve got a buddy back in Jersey who just bought a house. When I stopped by he was putting in new kitchen appliances and the whole place still smelled like the styrofoam wrap new electronics come in. My buddy is an engineer and makes small but, as I understand it, very fundamental parts for airplanes. He took me out to the backyard and we drank Modelos from the can while his neighbors splashed in a pool. The air smelled delicious. I thought about a rejection email I had received earlier that day and thought: what the hell am I doing with my life?
Afternoon Bites: Casey Plett Nonfiction, John Wray on Metal, Grant Maierhofer on Vowels, and More
In our afternoon reading: new writing by Casey Plett, an interview with John Wray, and more.
Morning Bites: Remembering Martin Amis, Matthew Binder Interviewed, Revisiting Living Colour, and More
In our morning reading: remembrances of Martin Amis, a new book on Living Colour, and more.
Books of the Month: May 2023 Edition
How, exactly, did we get to May already? Normally, we’d make a joke here about the collapse of time and space or something similarly esoteric, but the hour is at hand when we should get to the recommending of books. And so here are some book recommendations for the month we’re in — and, if you’re behind on your reading, these books aren’t going anywhere.
Morning Bites: Emahoy Tsegué Mariam Gebru’s Music, Interviewing Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Matthew Binder’s Latest, and More
In our morning reading: thoughts on Emahoy Tsegué Mariam Gebru’s music, an interview with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and more.