A few months ago I announced here that I was venturing into a solo podcast dedicated to discussing “The Worlds and Works of Shakespeare.” Well, that’s been going on, and I’ve just finished the first play (the first of 38 — this is a long-term project). While I do plan on keeping that podcast separate … Read more
Click here to read the abstract of the story on The New Yorker webpage (this week’s story is available only for subscribers). Thomas McGuane’s “Weight Watchers” was originally published in the November 4, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. Trevor I love Thomas McGuane, so I’m thrilled to see another story by him in this week’s … Read more
Lucie Brock-Broido’s “Moon River” was first published in the October 14, 2013 issue of The New Yorker and is available here for subscribers. Betsy In an essay about Alberto Giacometti, Jean Genet said, “If I want to tame a work of art, I frequently use a trick: I adopt, however artificially, a state of naiveté, I … Read more
On to my third book of this year’s Giller Prize shortlist, and again I find myself confronting a familiar name: Lisa Moore. Her books Open and Alligator were each shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and her previous novel February was longlisted for the Booker Prize. So her name is familiar to me, but I have never read any of those books. And while … Read more
In 2011, Lynn Coady’s novel The Antagonist was shortlisted for the Giller Prize (my thoughts here), and it was one of my favorites of that year. Looking back on my post, I see I almost had it in my first-place spot. I was excited, then, to see that she made the shortlist again this year … Read more
Click here to read the story in its entirety on The New Yorker webpage. Haruki Murakami’s “Samsa in Love” (tr. from the Japanese by Ted Goossen) was originally published in the October 28, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. I’ve never liked anything I’ve read of Murakami (which has been little), but obviously this is some … Read more
Trevor reviews Jeremias Gotthelf’s 1842 horror novel, The Black Spider, just out in a new translation from Susan Bernofsky. Read the full post.
Today they announced the five finalists for each category of the National Book Awards. Fiction: The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride Bleeding Edge, by Thomas Pynchon Tenth of December, by George Saunders Nonfiction: Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, by … Read more
This year’s winner is: The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton And for those of you in the United States, Little, Brown just published the book today. I have had a copy for a while, but so far I haven’t been able to bring myself to read the large (848 pages) book, but I am looking forward … Read more
This post is part of a series dedicated to Sherwood Anderson: Collected Stories, from The Library of America. “Respectability” comes from Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. For an introduction to this series and for links to the other posts, please click here. We feel pity and care about many of the subjects in Winesburg, Ohio, but … Read more