This morning: Flannery O’Connor’s birthday, Chelsea Hodson on her Inventory project, new writing from Kate Christensen, authors illustrated as their classical counterparts, and more.
This afternoon: a deeper look at Television’s Brian Eno-recorded demos, new writing from Sasha Fletcher, John Darnielle makes with the book-judging, Keith Gessen on Russia’s recent history, Casey N. Cep on unplugging, and much more.
And we’re back. Three collections this week: one memorable selection of essays on artists, one group of realistic stories of cultures intersecting, and one gripping dose of cosmic horror. Stating that I’m a fan of Janet Malcolm’s writing is not exactly a groundbreaking comment, I realize. I was eager to read her newly released nonfiction collection Forty-One False Starts in part because I’ve largely encountered her work at book length; reading more focused examples of her writing was definitely appealing.
In our afternoon reading: an excerpt from Kevin Sampsell’s latest, thoughts on Flannery O’Connor, a Nicola Griffith playlist, musical subway turnstiles, the excess of album launch parties, and more.
Yesterday was Halloween — and with that in mind, a lot of the reading I did in the week leading up to the holiday in question fell onto the supernaturally-charged side of things. Sometimes that led to ominous, terrifying work; at others, ghosts and hauntings took on a knowing, almost comic air. We’ll start with a trio of collections. I have no idea why Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove has been on my to-read shelf unread; the only reason I […]
Checking in with jazz musicians affected by Sandy; Laird Barron and Peter Straub hanging out; how we deal with bad reviews of art we like; and more.