In our morning reading: thoughts on Russell Hoban’s fiction, an interview with Farah Ali, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Zachary Mason Interviewed, Hari Kunzru Nonfiction, Kyo Maclear, Russell Hoban Revisited, and More
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Zachary Mason, revisiting a Russell Hoban classic, nonfiction by Hari Kunzru, and more.
Language For the End of Time
How do you write about the end of the world? Take that question at face value: how does one’s prose suggest that something cataclysmic has occurred in society, some rupture that has altered our means of communication? Consider it the flip side of Octavia E. Butler’s short story “Speech Sounds,” in which society as we know it crumbles after a biological condition causes humans to lose the ability to speak. The landscape that emerges in Butler’s story is an combination […]
#tobyreads: Aging Gracefully, Or Something
Sometime in the past year, I started thinking of myself as a year older than I actually am. Whereas before — say, at the age of 35 — I’d end up hesitating, considering 34, and then realizing that, no, I needed to go up a year, I now keep wanting to refer to myself as 37, whereas I’ve still got a few months to go until that birthday comes around. It’s a minor thing, sure, but it’s getting under my […]