March looks like a particularly promising month for new books. There are exciting literary debuts, the latest books from a host of writers we admire tremendously, incisive and format-defying works of prose, and a lot more. These are books that will leave you floored, will leave you impressed with what prose can do, that will take you to new places or shine a new light on places you thought you knew. Here’s a look at some of the titles that […]
Afternoon Bites: Ta-Nehisi Coates, New Alexis M. Smith Fiction, Hari Kunzru on “Dune,” Adam Wilson on Etgar Keret, and More
In our Monday afternoon reading: an excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new book, Hari Kunzru wrote about Dune, new writing from Jac Jemc and Alexis M. Smith, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Hari Kunzru on Ben Lerner, Emily St. John Mandel, IKEA Horror Fiction, Carl Wilson on Ty Segall, and More
Ben Lerner’s latest is reviewed by Hari Kunzru, talking dystopia with Emily St. John Mandel, the musical influence of Scott Miller, Elizabeth Ellen interviews Aaron Burch, and more.
Morning Bites: The Music of Paul Bowles, Ellen Willis’s Criticism, Sjón and Hari Kunzru, Teju Cole, and More
Thoughts on the artistic legacies of Paul Bowles and Ellen Willis, talking LA with Dean Wareham, a look at Teju Cole’s latest, Sjón in conversation with Hari Kunzru, and more,
Some Subversive Soviet-Era Science Fiction, Perhaps?
Those of you seeking unconventional speculative fiction would do well to delve into the works of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. They wrote in the Soviet Union from the late 1950s through the late 1980s. Their novel Roadside Picnic was the inspiration for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and Melville House recently released a new edition of their mindbending short novel Definitely Maybe, which blends metaphysical speculation and satire born of the paranoia of living in an authoritarian state.
Welcome, Literary Guggenheim Fellows
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced their 2014 Fellows, and the list abounds with familiar names. The list includes Claire Vaye Watkins, Hari Kunzru, Meghan O’Rourke, and D.T. Max, and many more; you can read the whole thing below.
Afternoon Bites: J.G. Ballard Tributes, Protomartyr, New Bonnie Jo Campbell Fiction, Rachel Zucker Interviewed, and More
In our afternoon reading: a host of J.G. Ballard tributes, when Patrick Hamilton inspires punk rock, new fiction from Bonnie Jo Campbell, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Vijay Iyer & Teju Cole, Lee Ranaldo’s Latest, Wayne Koestenbaum, Atavist Books, and More
Thoughts on the latest from Lee Ranaldo (and the legacy of Sonic Youth); a review of Vijay Iyer’s Teju Cole-inspired composition; Pitchfork begins a look back at a golden era of hip-hop; Wayne Koestenbaum’s new essay collection is reviewed; and more.