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Susie Boyt: Loved and Missed

January 27, 2026

Here is my review of Susie Boyt’s Loved and Missed, a painful, attentive novel about grief, in that attentiveness, something quietly enriching.

Muriel Spark: The Comforters

January 23, 2026

I’m starting a project to read all of Muriel Spark’s novels in chronological order. First up is her debut: The Comforters.

John Huston: The Dead

January 20, 2026

Today The Criterion Collection has released a new home video edition of John Huston’s final film, The Dead (1987), giving me a welcome opportunity to return to James Joyce’s story and this magnificent film adaptation.

Anita Brookner: Brief Lives

December 29, 2025

Here is my look at Anita Brookner’s 1990 novel Brief Lives, which explores aging, companionship, and longing with her usual precision and restraint.

Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain

December 26, 2025

What a happy accident reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain as I read the final volume of In Search of Lost Time. What a remarkable book, and I absolutely loved John E. Woods’s translation.

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Episodes of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast: discussions of books and authors, shaped by curiosity, rereading, and the pleasures of talking things through.

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The Mookse and the Gripes Instagram features a more immediate space with posts and videos about current reads, recent finds, including a steady dose of Criterion films.