In our morning reading: new essays from Emily St. John Mandel and Emma Straub, a walk through DC punk history, Laina Dawes on this year’s Afropunk Festival, Zachary Lipez on Michael Gira, and more.
Interviews with Patricia Lockwood and Wendy C. Ortiz, thoughts on new albums from Neil Young and Richard Reed Parry, reviews of books by Ben Tanzer and Brandon Hobson, and more.
This afternoon: Teju Cole talks with the Times, one iconic DC punk figure shows up in another’s video, Colin Dickey talks haunted houses, Brandon Hobson’s new book is reviewed, and more.
Let’s talk for a moment about Brandon Hobson. His new novel, Deep Ellum, is a short and searing look at a deeply damaged family living in Texas. Gideon, the book’s narrator, returns to his hometown of Dallas to help with a family crisis, but quickly finds himself wrestling with a host of complex relationships and impossible scenarios. It’s the kind of novel where the line between redemption and simple survival is quiet thin. (For those who might be curious, an excerpt […]