In our morning reading: new writing from Zadie Smith, an interview with xTx, the legacy of Afrika Bambaataa, Jim Ruland on Tom McCarthy’s latest, and more.
In our afternoon reading: Zadie Smith on Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele; thoughts on books by Natalie Eilbert, Andrew Worthington, and Diane Cook; new Cesar Aira fiction; a Sufjan Stevens interview; and more.
In our Friday morning reading: new writing from Megan Stielstra, news of a new Lightning Bolt album, process notes from Margaret Atwood and Zadie Smith, and more.
Revisiting Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Zadie Smith and Elif Batuman (among many others) contributed to an exquisite corpse short story, thoughts on Aphex Twin, and more.
New writing from Zadie Smith, Eimear McBride on Agota Kristof, Jordan Ginsberg on Dan Harmon, thoughts on EMA’s zine, a playlist from Lars Iyer, and more.
Zadie Smith discusses J.G. Ballard, an excerpt from Wendy C. Ortiz’s memoir, an interview with William T. Vollmann, book recommendations from Emily Gould, and more.
New fiction from Zadie Smith and Matt Bell, an essay from Leslie Jamison, revisiting American Psycho, talking with Adam Wilson, and more.
My dad once pointed out an inconsequential part of Charade, the Stanley Donen film. It’s a piece of interstitial dialogue between two characters we never see. George Kennedy, with a hook for a hand, has ransacked Audrey Hepburn’s Parisian hotel room, and Cary Grant goes out the window to find him. Grant passes a neighboring room’s window, and a woman screams.