Recent Articles

April 22, 2013

Losing Iain Banks 6

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Watching news of Iain Banks’s diagnosis spread was remarkable. He had meant a great deal to many discerning readers. A feeling of sudden urgency surprised me. The only response that seemed appropriate was to read his work.

April 22, 2013

The Congenital List-Maker 0

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In true Seinfeldian fashion, Arthur Martine, the Victorian writer behind Martine’s Handbook of Etiquette, drew up a detailed taxonomy of the various species of bore. These include the Loud Talker, who “silences a whole party by his sole power of lungs;” the Malaprop, who masters the art of inappropriate conversation; and the Life-Sharer, who may [...]

April 22, 2013

“The closest analogy for me is Woody Allen” 0

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Following in the footsteps of Amy Poehler, The Office star B.J. Novak has signed a book deal with Knopf. Unlike Poehler, who plans to write a memoir, Novak will publish a collection of comedic short stories.

April 22, 2013

Composition Lessons: Learning About Your Own Book From Other People’s Paintings 4

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The moment when I can work no more, when the novel or collection of short stories or book-length essay is as done as it’ll ever be, I go looking for works of art that match it tonally. I listen to music with an acquisitive ear. I watch pieces of movies whose titles intrigue me. Most of all, I scan through dozens of websites that collect images by contemporary artists. And then I try to solidify the relationship by using those works as my cover art.

April 21, 2013

Bard Bloomberg 0

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Mayor Mike Bloomberg: billionaire, philanthropist, corn syrup’s nemesis, and… poet?

April 21, 2013

Well, She Should Know 0

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“Here is a rare recording of Flannery O’Connor reading an early version of her witty and revealing essay, ‘Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction’”