Nonfiction Review: “Conversations with Kafka” by Gustav Janouch, translated...
RECOMMENDED Every budding teenage writer should have a mentor and friend like Gustav Janouch had. It was his good fortune that the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institution where his father worked in...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts: Drive-by Essays on...
RECOMMENDED In the classic TV series “The Honeymooners,” sewer worker Norton (Art Carney) has taken up bird watching and, with binoculars around his neck, shares a park bench with his friend, the bus...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Farther Away” by Jonathan Franzen
You don’t have to have read much of Jonathan Franzen (though you should) to know the basics, because in recent years he’s reached a level of cultural saturation that’s generally not the province of...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction” by Michael Moorcock
RECOMMENDED Michael Moorcock is a difficult fellow to pigeonhole. He’s won practically every award given to writers in the genres of fantasy and science fiction (or speculative fiction, if you prefer),...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Writings From the Sand, Volume 1: Collected Works of...
RECOMMENDED In the 1960s, writers like Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson started what became known as the Gonzo style of journalism, in which writers used a combination of writing techniques and...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? …And Other Reflections...
In an existence full of lattes, bus fare, text messages, work meetings and rent, it’s possible to forget we are members of the animal kingdom. We are apes. And our bodies, hairless as they are, are...
View ArticleFiction Review: “My Heart Is an Idiot” by Davy Rothbart
RECOMMENDED Do you know Davy Rothbart? You probably feel like you do if you’ve ever picked up an issue of Found magazine at Quimby’s, or tunneled through an afternoon on the Found website. Maybe your...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “From the Ruins of Empire” by Pankaj Mishra
RECOMMENDED “Take up the white man’s burden \ Send forth the best ye breed \ Go bind your sons to exile \ To serve your captives’ need” When Rudyard Kipling wrote those words in 1899, European...
View ArticleAnthology Review: “Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures,...
In February 2010, David Shields released “Reality Hunger: A Manifesto.” In this text, Shields laid out a barrage of thoughts (some his own, but most grabbed and remixed from the voices and works of...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Exploring J. R. R. Tolkien’s the Hobbit” by Corey Olsen
RECOMMENDED J. R. R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” was released seventy-five years ago this past month, introducing readers to Bilbo Baggins and his adventures with Gandalf and a group of dwarves. It was...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “This is Running For Your Life” by Michelle Orange
RECOMMENDED Canadian-born writer/film critic/pop-cultural savant Michelle Orange launches “This Is Running for Your Life” with a meditation on youth and taste and nostalgia (also, Ethan Hawke’s face)....
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal” by Mary Roach
RECOMMENDED Acclaimed science writer Mary Roach fell in love with human anatomy in her fifth-grade science class when Mrs. Claflin introduced her to a “headless, limbless modeled plastic-torso,” and...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men” by...
RECOMMENDED One of the many awful aftershocks of a violent incident like the Boston Marathon bombings is the tendency of public figures to say terrible things while trying to make sense of what...
View ArticleBreaking Ground Again: The Second Resurrection of Samuel Delany
By Greg Baldino There was a time when experimental science fiction could sell a million copies. It helped that at the time science fiction (having acquired a reputation just slightly better than that...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New...
RECOMMENDED If you’ve ever wondered how a great dinosaur and a backyard hummingbird could be related, or dreamt of seeing a gangly pterodactyl fly, then Brian Switek’s “My Beloved Brontosaurus” is for...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “American Savage” by Dan Savage
RECOMMENDED If the only time you’ve encountered Dan Savage is through his Savage Love sex-advice column or podcast, you’re missing out. Savage has always been a gifted cultural critic and philosopher,...
View ArticleThe Place We Call Home: Examining Public Housing in “High Rise Stories”
By Erin Nederbo Growing up on Chicago’s Northwest Side in the 1990s, I heard plenty of stories about the city’s projects. The tales were passed down like a game of telephone, the storyteller and...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Meaty” by Samantha Irby
RECOMMENDED A lot of “Meaty”’s reviews can be summed up this way: “lol omg this girl is talking about how she craps her pants she’s so awesome.” Reading reviews like this, one gets the idea that all...
View ArticleAnthology Review: “Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures,...
In February 2010, David Shields released “Reality Hunger: A Manifesto.” In this text, Shields laid out a barrage of thoughts (some his own, but most grabbed and remixed from the voices and works of...
View ArticleNonfiction Review: “Exploring J. R. R. Tolkien’s the Hobbit” by Corey Olsen
RECOMMENDED J. R. R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” was released seventy-five years ago this past month, introducing readers to Bilbo Baggins and his adventures with Gandalf and a group of dwarves. It was...
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