Written Reviews

Maggie O’Farrell: Hamnet

July 28, 2020

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is an exceptional book that draws our attention away from Shakespeare to tell a story of the grief and disillusionment suffered by his wife while the poet was away building his legacy.

2020 Booker Prize Longlist

July 27, 2020

The 2020 Booker Prize longlist has been announced!

Bryan Washington: “Heirlooms”

July 27, 2020

This week’s New Yorker fiction is Bryan Washington’s “Heirlooms,” an excerpt, or, as they call it here, an adaptation from Washington’s forthcoming novel Memorial.

Anniversaries Readalong: July 29 – August 4, 1968

July 26, 2020

Come here to talk about Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries, covering July 29 – August 4, 1968.

Abbas Kiarostami: Taste of Cherry

July 21, 2020

Here are some of my thoughts on Abbas Kiarostami’s 1997 film, Taste of Cherry, which has just been re-released in a new home video edition by The Criterion Collection.

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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.