George Saunders: Vigil
I always approach a new George Saunders book with hope. Vigil returns to the afterlife, moral reckoning, and the fragile possibility of redemption. But it left me frustrated. Here are my thoughts.
Trevor Berrett
Muriel Spark: Robinson
I continue my chronological trek through Muriel Spark’s work with her second, 1958’s Robinson.
Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes
January’s pick for NYRB Women 2026 was Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes, which is just celebrating one hundred years.
Susie Boyt: Loved and Missed
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
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
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
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
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.
Marcel Proust: In Search of Lost Time
“For a long time. . . ” And then suddenly I find myself having read the final pages of Time Regained. Here are some brief thoughts upon finishing Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.
Helene Hanff: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
I finally read Helene Hanff’s The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, and it’s a quiet delight. Hanff finally makes her long-dreamed-of journey to London, and records it with the same wit, warmth, and honesty that made 84, Charing Cross Road so beloved.