Thursday 30 September 2021

8 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/review/8-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

Miriam Toews Gets Nervous When People Assume She’s Read the Classics

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“I literally start to sweat. I’ll rush home to have another go at ‘The Golden Bowl,’ or whatever.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/review/miriam-toews-by-the-book-interview.html

The Privilege of Mediocrity

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For creators of color, the perceived need to be exemplary can be artistically stultifying. Instead, true freedom may lie in being allowed to be fine — or to fail.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/t-magazine/mediocrity-people-of-color.html

She Face-Planted Into Her Salad at the Country Club. Who Killed Her?

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In “Mango, Mambo, and Murder,” a series debut from Raquel V. Reyes, a food anthropologist in Miami begins to investigate crimes.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/review/new-mystery-and-crime.html

Why Write About Pop Music? ‘I Like When People Disagree About Stuff.’

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Kelefa Sanneh hopes to start some arguments with his new book, “Major Labels,” which chronicles the past 50 years of rock, hip-hop, country and other musical genres.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/kelefa-sanneh-major-labels.html

Poem: Postlude

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A bounty of clarity in the poetry of Rita Dove.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/magazine/poem-postlude.html

The I Survived Series is a Survivor on the Best-Seller List

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In Lauren Tarshis’ books, the struggle is real — and young readers can’t get enough of these stories of war, wildfire, tornadoes and volcanoes.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/review/lauren-tarshis-i-survived.html

Dasani Showed Us What It’s Like to Grow Up Homeless. She’s Still Struggling.

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“Invisible Child,” by the New York Times reporter Andrea Elliott, expands on her much-admired 2013 series, following the lives of a New York City child and her family, as they strive to stay together and make ends meet.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/books/review/invisible-child-dasani-andrea-elliott.html

Wednesday 29 September 2021

Why Is Making Plans So Hard Right Now?

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There’s not enough momentum.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/at-home/newsletter.html

Stephanie Grisham, the Latest White House Memoirist, Offers Apologies and Payback

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In “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” the former press secretary under President Trump makes some withering assessments and compares her and the first lady to Thelma and Louise.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review-stephanie-grisham-trump-white-house-take-your-questions-now.html

Newly Published, From the AIDS Crisis to Anthony Bourdain

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A selection of books published this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review/new-this-week.html

Stephanie Grisham’s Book Details Trump’s ‘Terrifying’ Temper

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The former press secretary is reflective in her tell-all: “I should have spoken up more.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/us/politics/stephanie-grishams-book-trump.html

Forget the ‘Hero’s Journey’ and Consider the Heroine’s Quest Instead

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In “The Heroine With 1001 Faces,” the folklore scholar Maria Tatar explores woman-centered alternatives to Joseph Campbell’s famous template for myths and legends starring male protagonists.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review/the-heroine-with-1001-faces-maria-tatar.html

These Literary Memoirs Take a Different Tack

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Rather than prioritizing confession and catharsis, today’s authors are focusing on the question of who gets to share their version of things and interrogating the form, along with themselves.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/t-magazine/memoirs-books-nonfiction-identity.html

How the Animal World Is Adapting to Climate Change

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In “Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid,” Thor Hanson looks at the evolutionary shifts already taking place as ecosystems and weather patterns change.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review/how-the-animal-world-is-adapting-to-climate-change.html

When the Times Book Review Panned the Classics

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Some of today’s best-loved books — think “Catch-22,” “Tender Is the Night” and even “Anne of Green Gables” — had a rocky reception in our pages.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/negative-book-reviews.html

14 New Books Coming in October

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Novels from Jonathan Franzen, Amor Towles and Tiphanie Yanique; histories of Black cinema and music in America; and plenty more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/new-october-books.html

In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress

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Using game theory, behavioral economics and other models, Pinker tries to combat what he sees as rationality’s image problem.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review-rationality-steven-pinker.html

Tuesday 28 September 2021

‘Cloud Cuckoo Land,’ by Anthony Doerr: An Excerpt

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An excerpt from “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” by Anthony Doerr

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/cloud-cuckoo-land-by-anthony-doerr-an-excerpt.html

The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s First Novel Since 1973

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“Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth” is at once political satire and murder mystery, and a lament for the spirit of his native Nigeria.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/wole-soyinka-chronicles-novel.html

The Owner of The Mysterious Bookshop Built His Dream House

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And of course it includes a two-story library — modeled on the Bodleian at Oxford University — for his massive collection of books.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/realestate/the-owner-of-the-mysterious-bookshop-built-his-dream-house.html

Author of 'My Monticello' on Writing a Debut Book With Buzz

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Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, at 50, is not the average age of a debut author. But the public school teacher describes herself as a “literary debutante” with the October publication of “My Monticello.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/style/jocelyn-nicole-johnson-my-monticello-debut-book.html

Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Touch of Evil

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“The Morning Star,” his new novel, explores both the uncanny and the mundane.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/karl-ove-knausgaard-morning-star.html

The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s First Novel Since 1973

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“Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth” is at once political satire and murder mystery, and a lament for the spirit of his native Nigeria.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/wole-soyinka-Chronicles-From-the-Land-of-the-Happiest-People-on-Earth.html

Humanity Is Stupid, Helpless and Possibly Worth Saving

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Two new editions of the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem’s work showcase his singular imagination.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/stanislaw-lem-truth-dialogues.html

The True Story of Robert E. Lee

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Allen C. Guelzo’s “Robert E. Lee” offers a nuanced portrait of the Confederate general who chose his state over the nation.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review/robert-e-lee-allen-c-guelzo.html

From Joshua Ferris: A Father’s Scattershot Legacy, Narrated Unreliably

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Ferris’s new novel, “A Calling for Charlie Barnes,” follows its title character through some 40 jobs, five marriages and assorted children.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/books/review-calling-for-charlie-barnes-joshua-ferris.html

Monday 27 September 2021

Charles W. Mills, Philosopher of Race and Liberalism, Dies at 70

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He argued that white supremacy was a feature of the Western political tradition, and that racism represented a political system as intentional as liberal democracy.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/charles-w-mills-dead.html

Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Crossroads,’ a Mellow, ’70s-Era Heartbreaker That Starts a Trilogy

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In Franzen’s new novel, the members of a suburban Chicago family headed by a pastor confront crises of faith and morality.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/books/review-jonathan-franzen-crossroads.html

Kevin Young’s Latest Poems Are at Play Among the Dead

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His new collection, “Stones,” is about family, about death and about how families absorb and repurpose loss; the stones here bear names and life spans.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/books/review/kevin-young-stones-poems.html

Saturday 25 September 2021

Anita Hill Has Some Perspective to Offer

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Thirty years after she testified before the Senate, the law professor talks about the experience, sexual harassment and her growing impatience with the slow pace of change.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/books/anita-hill-believing.html

Wole Soyinka Is Not Going Anywhere

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The Nobel laureate, whose new novel, “Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth,” is his first in nearly 50 years, refuses to back down when he senses that his homeland’s freedom is under threat.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/books/wole-soyinka-chronicles-land-happiest-people-earth.html

Friday 24 September 2021

Charles G. Sellers, Historian Who Upset the Postwar Consensus, Dies at 98

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A Southerner who became a radical at Berkeley, he argued that democracy developed in America as a response to the emergence of industrial capitalism.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/charles-g-sellers-dead.html

What to Do This Weekend

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Take an audio trip.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/at-home/newsletter.html

A Journey Along the River That Separates Russia From China

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As he neared 80, the travel writer Colin Thubron took a trip along the 10th longest river in the world, chronicled in “The Amur River.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/the-amur-river-colin-thubron.html

When a President Wrote for the Book Review

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For the 125th anniversary of the Book Review, we revisit the time Teddy Roosevelt gushed on our front cover about a book he loved.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/when-a-president-wrote-for-the-book-review.html

Randall Kennedy on ‘Say It Loud!’

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Kennedy discusses his new essay collection, and Mary Roach talks about “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/podcast-randall-kennedy-say-it-loud-mary-roach-fuzz.html

Word Up! Three Picture Books and a Graphic Novel Celebrate the Power and Joy of Language

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“Thao,” “Otto: A Palindrama,” “My Monster Moofy” and “The Wordy Book” explore myriad worlds within words.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/otto-jon-agee-thao-lam-monster-moofy-wordy-book.html

Book Review: ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land,’ by Anthony Doerr

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“Cloud Cuckoo Land,” Doerr’s first novel since “All the Light We Cannot See,” unites five characters over a millennium in a tribute to books and those who love them.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/anthony-doerr-cloud-cuckoo-land.html

Book Review: ‘When We Cease to Understand the World,’ by Benjamín Labatut

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“When We Cease to Understand the World,” by Benjamín Labatut, considers the fine line between the brilliance and darkness of human advancement.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/benjamin-labatut-cease-understand-world.html

New in Paperback: ‘The Devil You Know’ and ‘The Lying Life of Adults’

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Six new paperbacks to check out this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/new-paperbacks.html

Sally Rooney’s Riposte, Ralph Nader’s Candidacy and Other Letters to the Editor

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Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/review/sally-rooneys-riposte-ralph-naders-candidacy-and-other-letters-to-the-editor.html

Thursday 23 September 2021

8 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/books/review/8-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

Can a Coma Be Contagious?

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In “The Sleeping Beauties,” Suzanne O’Sullivan examines those poorly understood conditions that fall at the tangled intersection of body and mind, like mysterious outbreaks of mass illness.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/books/review/the-sleeping-beauties-suzanne-osullivan.html

Readers Aren’t Into Sports? The Best-Seller List Says Otherwise.

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Basketball and tennis are the subjects of two top titles written by stars in their own fields.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/books/review/where-tomorrows-arent-promised-carmelo-anthony.html

The Best Book That Amor Towles Ever Received as a Gift

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“My wife gave me the first edition of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ to be published in English (in 1886). That the edition was in translation was just as well, since I don’t read a word of Russian.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/books/review/amor-towles-by-the-book-interview.html

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Tuesday 21 September 2021

The Alarming Rise of Peter Thiel, Tech Mogul and Political Provocateur

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In a revealing new biography, “The Contrarian,” the journalist Max Chafkin charts Thiel’s ascendancy in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., as a driven man drawn to far-right causes and beliefs.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrarian-peter-thiel-max-chafkin.html

Two of America’s Leading Historians Look at the Nation’s Founding Once Again — to Understand It in All Its Complexity

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Joseph J. Ellis’s “The Cause” and Gordon S. Wood’s “Power and Liberty” argue that the Constitution was a necessary compromise.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-cause-joseph-j-ellis-power-liberty-gordon-s-wood.html

Anne-Marie Slaughter Explains What She Has Learned From a Long Career of Public Service

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Slaughter’s “Renewal” looks at how a personal transformation can lead to broader social change.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/anne-marie-slaughter-renewal.html

Lena Waithe, Gillian Flynn to Start Book Imprints

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The two women are joining Zando, an independent publishing company founded last year that plans to work with authors and sell books in unconventional ways.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/lena-waithe-gillian-flynn-zando-books.html

In Richard Powers’s New Novel, Hope for a Grieving Kid and Planet May Lurk in the Human Brain

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The Pulitzer Prize winner’s latest novel, “Bewilderment,” features a widowed father whose troubled son is transformed by a novel neurofeedback therapy with profound implications for the human race.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/bewilderment-richard-powers.html

Back to the Future, With Books Instead of a DeLorean

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Three new historical novels remind us how what happened in days, and centuries, gone by connects to the world today.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-women-of-troy-pat-barker.html

An Irreverent Novel Trains Its Gaze on Refugees and Their Rescuers

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“The Wrong End of the Telescope,” by the Lebanese American writer Rabih Alameddine, examines the relationship between Middle Eastern refugees and their Western rescuers with clear eyes and trenchant humor.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-wrong-end-of-the-telescope-rabih-alameddine.html

Beasts and Baseball: New Science Fiction and Fantasy

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“The Body Scout,” “Light From Uncommon Stars” and “No Gods, No Monsters” tell stories of genetic dystopias, musical gifts and mythic creatures.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/lincoln-michel-ryka-aoki-cadwell-turnbull.html

A History of Medical Innovation That Doesn’t Ignore the Side Effects

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In “You Bet Your Life,” Paul A. Offit looks at advances that have prolonged life, from chemotherapy to the Covid vaccine, and the difficult, even deadly, paths to arrive at them.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/you-bet-your-life-paul-offitt.html

‘The Right to Sex’ Thinks Beyond the Parameters of Consent

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Amia Srinivasan’s brilliant essays urge us to think more fully about sex, as a personal experience with social implications.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review-right-to-sex-amia-srinivasan.html

Even the G-Spot is Named for a Man

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Why do so many female body parts honor male scientists?

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/science/anatomy-women-reproduction-epoynms.html

Monday 20 September 2021

In Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Horror-Tinged New Novel, a Mesmerizing Star Appears in the Sky

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“The Morning Star” chews on big ideas about God and mortality while its characters react to a bright and eerie new presence above them.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/books/review-morning-star-karl-ove-knausgaard.html

Sunday 19 September 2021

Ruth Ozeki’s Borgesian, Zen Buddhist Parable of Consumerism

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In “The Book of Form and Emptiness,” the characters are so preoccupied with material possessions that objects come to life all around them.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/books/review/the-book-of-form-and-emptiness-ruth-ozeki.html

Saturday 18 September 2021

Was Occupy Wall Street the ‘Beginning of the Beginning’?

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In “Generation Occupy,” Michael Levitin argues that the 2011 protest against income inequality shaped both the substance and style of American politics.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/books/review/generation-occupy-michael-levitin.html

Friday 17 September 2021

New York Public Library to Keep Picture Collection Browsable

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A plan to archive the resource, used by many artists, including Warhol, has been shelved.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/arts/new-york-public-library-picture-collection.html

What to Do This Weekend

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Preview fall culture.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/at-home/newsletter.html

Colson Whitehead on ‘Harlem Shuffle’

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Whitehead talks about his new novel, and Colm Toibin discusses “The Magician.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/podcast-colson-whitehead-harlem-shuffle-colm-toibin-magician.html

Bob Woodward Extends His Trump Chronicles With the Chaotic Transfer of Power

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In “Peril,” Woodward and his co-writer Robert Costa take readers up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the early days of the Biden administration.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review-peril-bob-woodward-robert-costa-trump-biden.html

National Book Awards Announces Its 2021 Nominees

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This year’s fiction longlist includes Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, a 2020 nominee in the poetry category, as well as Richard Powers, who also made the Booker Prize shortlist this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/national-book-awards-2021-longlist.html

Why This Superstar Pitcher for the Mets Started a Book Club

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‘I just think that’s what being a New Yorker is all about, being hungry for more,’ said Noah Syndergaard, an avid reader.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/nyregion/Noah-Syndergaard-Mets.html

Afghanistan, a Double Bind and Other Letters to the Editor

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Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/afghanistan-a-double-bind-and-other-letters-to-the-editor.html

New in Paperback: ‘Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath’ and ‘Sisters’

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Six new paperbacks to check out this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/new-paperbacks.html

Thomas Mann on the Artist vs. the State

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Thomas Mann spent the years during World War I composing “Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man,” an idiosyncratic assault on democracy and reason that was recently reissued. The book’s political ideas are of little use, Christopher Beha writes, but Mann’s critique of how democracies enlist writers to serve as their social conscience resonates forcefully today.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/reflections-of-a-nonpolitical-man-thomas-mann.html

Thursday 16 September 2021

Kate DiCamillo’s New Novel, About a Girl Who Would Be King

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In “The Beatryce Prophecy,” a young girl is hunted by the king because of a prophecy that she will unseat him.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/kate-dicamillo-sophie-blackall-the-beatryce-prophecy.html

Brian Selznick’s Lockdown Masterpiece

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“Kaleidoscope” is the stuff of dreams — glittering shards of a wondrously ungraspable story.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/brian-selznick-kaleidoscope.html

11 Books By Latinos to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month

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Reflections on brownness, stories about migrant workers and queer immigrants, postcolonial poems — and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/article/latino-books.html

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/review/9-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

Historian of Race in America Gets an Unusual Four-Book Deal

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Martha S. Jones, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, will write four books for Basic Books, starting with an exploration of the history and legacy of slavery’s sexual violence.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/arts/historian-martha-s-jones-book-deal.html

16 New and Upcoming Young Adult Books to Watch For

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There are novels about Black boys finding joy, nervy thrillers, fantasies filled with magic, angsty romances and much, much more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-ya-books.html

20 New Works of Fiction to Read This Season

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New novels from Jonathan Franzen and Anthony Doerr, a political thriller by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, a Korean murder mystery — and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-fiction-books-fall-2021.html

6 New Books on the Pandemic, #MeToo and Other Timely Topics

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“The 1619 Project” expands its Pulitzer Prize-winning argument about our nation’s origins, Huma Abedin reflects on her life, and other titles imagine our post-Covid future.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-books-pandemic-metoo-current-affairs.html

5 New Biographies to Read This Season

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The first major study of Oscar Wilde in decades, the conclusion of a “magisterial” series on Pablo Picasso, and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-biography-books-fall-2021.html

7 New Memoirs to Read This Season

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Look for reflections from Katie Couric, Stanley Tucci and Joy Harjo — and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-memoirs-fall-2021.html

11 New Works of Nonfiction to Read This Season

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A deeply reported look at the woman behind Roe vs. Wade, an investigation of lawbreaking animals, another hilarious essay collection from Phoebe Robinson — and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-nonfiction-books-fall-2021.html

Get to Know Your Favorite Actors and Artists a Little Better

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Watch for new memoirs from Gabrielle Union and Alan Cumming, Jamie Foxx’s reflections on parenthood, Patricia Highsmith’s diaries and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/new-books-actors-artists-fall-2021.html

For His Next Act, Anthony Doerr Wrote a Book About Everything

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The author of “All the Light We Cannot See” has a new novel, “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” that seeks to tell a sprawling story linking past, present and future.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/anthony-doerr-cloud-cuckoo-land.html

Poem: waiting on you to die so i can be myself

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In this world filled, sometimes, with more breakdowns than breaks, it feels sometimes an anachronism to hear anybody say they love somebody deeply.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/magazine/poem-waiting-on-you-to-die-so-i-can-be-myself.html

They Survived, They Recovered (Mostly) ... What Next?

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Three new memoirs traverse the rocky terrain between illness and everyday life.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/review/smile-sarah-ruhl.html

Rosamund Pike Reads Paula Hawkins; and Other Audiobooks to Make Your Head Spin

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A murder mystery on a London houseboat, a 16th-century Pacific voyage, and a deep dive into humans’ relationships with animals.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/review/paula-hawkins-a-slow-fire-burning-rosamund-pike-mary-roach-fuzz-conquering-the-pacific-andres-resendez.html

Optimism Rears Its Sunny Head on the Best-Seller List

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Four new titles either allude to the elusive commodity or grab it by the shoulders and pin it onto the page.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/review/forever-young-hayley-mills.html

Anderson Cooper Wishes His Parents and Truman Capote Could Reconcile Over Dinner

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“They stopped speaking to him after he wrote some pretty cruel stuff about my mom in a story published in Esquire in 1975. I wouldn’t want Truman to stay very long though, and he couldn’t have any alcohol. Actually let’s make it Truman circa 1966, not the bloated Truman of 1975.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/books/review/anderson-cooper-by-the-book-interview.html

Wednesday 15 September 2021

Back to School, for Now

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Some seasonal constants (and variables).

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/at-home/newsletter.html

Why Does Every Company Now Want to Be a Platform?

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In “The Platform Delusion,” Jonathan Knee takes apart the magical aura that surrounds one of Silicon Valley’s biggest conceptual exports.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/review/jonathan-knee-platform-delusion.html

The Coming ‘Tsunami’ of Books on Race

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When readers rushed to buy books about race and racism last year, publishers took notice. Now some of the titles they signed are entering the world, with authors, agents and editors anxious to see how they do.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/new-books-race-racism-antiracism.html

In ‘Bewilderment,’ Richard Powers Smothers Nature With Piety

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A grieving astrobiologist bemoans the state of the planet while raising his sensitive 9-year-old son in Powers’s new novel.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/review-bewilderment-richard-powers.html

Newly Published, From James Baldwin to a Life-Changing Dog

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A selection of books published this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/review/new-this-week.html

Tuesday 14 September 2021

‘Fuzz,’ by Mary Roach: An Excerpt

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An excerpt from “Fuzz,” by Mary Roach

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/fuzz-by-mary-roach-an-excerpt.html

Woodward’s Book on Trump Describes General's Secret Calls to China

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In a sign of his concerns, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer also gathered commanders to remind them of the safeguards in the nuclear launch procedures.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/politics/peril-woodward-book-trump.html

What Makes Someone Seek Pain for Pleasure?

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In “Hurts So Good,” Leigh Cowart explores the science and culture of masochism, from the competitive pepper-eater to the ultramarathoner to sex of a certain variety.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/hurts-so-good-leigh-cowart.html

‘Great Circle,’ ‘Bewilderment’ Among Booker Prize Finalists

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This year’s shortlist includes novels by Nadifa Mohamed, Patricia Lockwood, Damon Galgut and Anuk Arudpragasam. A winner will be named in November.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/booker-prize-2021-shortlist.html

What if the Inca Conquered Europe? A Novel Rewrites History.

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“Civilizations,” by Laurent Binet, imagines a counterhistory of the Spanish conquests.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/laurent-binet-civilizations.html

After 22 Years, Gayl Jones Returns

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“Palmares” — her first novel since 1999’s “Mosquito” — is an emancipation story set in 17th-century Brazil.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/gayl-jones-palmares.html

This Kenyan Activist Said No to ‘the Cut’

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In her memoir, “The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree,” Nice Leng’ete tells the story of her courageous fight against female genital mutilation.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/the-girls-in-the-wild-fig-tree-nice-lengete.html

Is Stranger Hatred Hard-Wired Into Humans?

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“Of Fear and Strangers,” by George Makari, examines the history of xenophobia, its evolution in modern times and how we might combat it.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/of-fear-and-strangers-george-makari.html

Gabrielle Union Has Some Personal Updates

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In her second memoir, “You Got Anything Stronger?,” the actor bares her struggles with fertility, rape, aging and grief.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/gabrielle-union-you-got-anything-stronger.html

Colson Whitehead’s Warmhearted Novel of a 1960s Crime Caper in Harlem

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“Harlem Shuffle” luxuriates in the seedy spaces of late night, “when the straight world slept and the bent got to work.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/colson-whitehead-harlem-shuffle.html

A Novel of Young Love, New York City and Coffee

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In Vince Passaro’s new novel, “Crazy Sorrow,” two college students meet in 1976. Their story spans decades.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/crazy-sorrow-vince-passaro.html

T.C. Boyle’s New Novel Looks Into the Mind of a Chimpanzee

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“Talk to Me” tracks the complex relationships among a professor, his undergraduate assistant and a chimp who knows sign language.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/tc-boyle-talk-to-me.html

George Washington Slept Here? Then So Will Nathaniel Philbrick.

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In “Travels With George,” a book that’s part history and part travelogue, Philbrick retraces Washington’s steps in an effort to understand America’s problems then and now.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/nathaniel-philbrick-travels-with-george.html

When the Criminal Is Furry and Has a Penchant for Garbage

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In “Fuzz,” Mary Roach explores the tricky terrain where humans and wildlife overlap and often collide.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/fuzz-mary-roach.html

The False and Dangerous Promise of Humane Wars

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Samuel Moyn’s “Humane” explores America’s enthusiasm for making wars more humane even if it assures us of future wars.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/review/humane-samuel-moyn.html

Monday 13 September 2021

Richard Powers Speaks for the Trees

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His Pulitzer-winning novel, “The Overstory,” left him so drained that he didn’t know whether he would write again. His new book, “Bewilderment,” came to him when he imagined a child talking to him in a forest.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/books/richard-powers-bewilderment.html

‘The Contrarian’ Goes Searching for Peter Thiel’s Elusive Core

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In his new book, Max Chafkin narrates the secretive tech mogul’s life and tries to understand what he stands for.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/books/review-contrarian-peter-thiel-silicon-valley-max-chafkin.html

A Black Woman in Finance Regains Her Agency

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In Natasha Brown’s slim debut novel, “Assembly,” the social critique matters more than the plot.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/books/review/assembly-natasha-brown.html

Why Use a Dictionary in the Age of Internet Search?

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Dictionaries reward you for paying attention, both to the things you consume and to your own curiosity.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/magazine/dictionary-recommendation.html

Banned in Her Home Country, Wendy Guerra Writes of a Lost Cuba

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In “I Was Never the First Lady,” the protagonist sets out to find the mother who abandoned her, and Cuba, long ago.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/books/review/wendy-guerra-i-was-never-the-first-lady.html

Sunday 12 September 2021

Joseph Brodsky Slept Here. The Great Poet’s Cranky Neighbor Couldn’t Care Less.

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After a decades-long standoff with the last resident of a communal apartment, a private museum has finally opened in Brodsky’s shared home in St. Petersburg, a rare grass-roots victory in Russia.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/world/europe/joseph-brodsky-museum-russia.html

Liane Moriarty’s New Novel Is a Family Saga and a Mystery

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In “Apples Never Fall,” the author of “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “Big Little Lies” serves readers the tale of a missing mother and tennis pro.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/books/review/apples-never-fall-liane-moriarty.html

The Nuns of Fiction: Experts in Affliction and Awe

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From Chaucer to Don DeLillo and Lauren Groff, nuns in literature have served a variety of functions — not least, Claire Luchette writes, as the authors’ stays against mortal agony.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/books/review/nuns-chaucer-don-delillo-lauren-groff-alice-mcdermott.html

When Sadness Is Transformative and Grief Gets Complicated

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Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi talks about her new novel, “Savage Tongues,” in which two friends help each other deal with personal and political traumas.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/books/savage-tongues-azareen-van-der-vliet-oloomi-interview.html

Friday 10 September 2021

In Colson Whitehead’s New Novel, a Crime Grows in Harlem

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A hotel heist is at the center of “Harlem Shuffle,” but the deeper sin is America’s handling of race and the decline of a thriving midcentury community.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/colson-whitehead-harlem-shuffle.html

What to Do This Weekend

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Consider 9/11’s effects on American culture.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/at-home/what-to-do-this-weekend.html

Welcome to the Trump Book Expo

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Competition is intense for authors writing about the last administration.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/trump-books-donald.html

Brandon Taylor on the Sally Rooney Phenomenon

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Taylor talks about Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” and David Rooney discusses “About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/review/podcast-sally-rooney-beautiful-world-brandon-taylor-david-rooney-about-time-clocks.html

Once, Twice, Thrice Upon a Time

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Three book-length fairy tales — by Tom Gauld, Nadja Spiegelman and Ole Könnecke — take common ingredients and whip them into fresh new stories.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/review/tom-gauld-the-little-wooden-robot-and-the-log-princess.html

Welcome to the Trump Book Expo

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Competition is intense for authors writing about the last administration.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/welcome-to-the-trump-book-expo.html

Tarana Burke Talks About the Surprising Origins of #MeToo

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Tarana Burke discusses her new memoir, “Unbound,” and how she turned away from one movement to found another.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/tarana-burke-unbound-metoo.html

New in Paperback: ‘The Best of Me’ and ‘Piranesi’

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Six new paperbacks to check out this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/review/new-paperbacks.html

Has the Pandemic Changed Cities Forever?

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In “Survival of the City,” Edward Glaeser and David Cutler explore a range of issues that will affect how our urban areas will look into the future.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/review/survival-of-the-city-edward-glaeser-david-cutler.html

Wilma Rudolph, Nuclear Fusion and Other Letters to the Editor

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Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/review/wilma-rudolph-nuclear-fusion-and-other-letters-to-the-editor.html

Thursday 9 September 2021

Four New Poetry Books Mine Their Authors’ Pasts for Music and Meaning

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Stephanie Burt reviews “Catcalling,” by Lee Soho; “The Collection Plate,” by Kendra Allen; “Maroon Choreography,” by Fahima Ife; and “The Survival Expo,” by Caki Wilkinson.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/four-new-poetry-books-mine-their-authors-pasts-for-music-and-meaning.html

What’s Wrong With Big Tech? Three Stanford Professors Think They Know.

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“System Error,” by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein, explores the problems inherent in Silicon Valley’s hold on us.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/system-error-rob-reich-mehran-sahami-jeremy-weinstein.html

Spider-Man’s First Comic Brings $3.6 Million, Likely a Record

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The Amazing Fantasy No. 15 from 1962 leaps past Superman to sell for what is believed to be the highest price for a comic book.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/arts/spider-man-comic-auction-record.html

The Runty Prehistoric Mammals That Outlasted the Dinosaurs

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In “Beasts Before Us,” the paleontologist Elsa Panciroli puts a spotlight on the small mammals that might have been our most important ancestors.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/beasts-before-us-elsa-panciroli.html

12 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/12-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

Book Review: ‘The Family Roe,’ by Joshua Prager

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“The Family Roe,” by Joshua Prager, is a nuanced, deeply reported portrait of Norma McCorvey, known to most Americans as Jane Roe, the plaintiff in the case that won abortion rights for U.S. women.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/family-roe-joshua-prager.html

Ann Patchett on Taking a Bad Fall to Find Good Luck

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Ann Patchett finds that misfortune in small doses can cast a glittering light on the rest of life.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/well/live/ann-patchett-broken-foot.html

A Writer’s Deathbed Portrait of Francis Bacon

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Max Porter’s new novel imagines the last days of a painter who shares his obsession with mortality.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/arts/design/max-porter-death-of-francis-bacon.html

The Black Recovery Stories Speaking to Individual and Collective Wellness

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Long sidelined, these narratives are ascendant in the culture, and offer an elastic yet demanding view of what it might take for Americans — and their nation — to heal.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/t-magazine/black-recovery-sobriety-addiction.html

Poem: I came to you

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From a poet who was always looking for and singing the names of others.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/magazine/poem-i-came-to-you.html

What Did Best-Selling Illustrators Doodle While Daydreaming in School?

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Three artists open up about the influences that led them to pick up pen, pencil and paintbrush.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/the-day-you-begin-jacqueline-woodson-rafael-lopez.html

Gabrielle Union Likes to Read in the Bathroom

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“It’s quiet, I am left alone, it’s optimal temperature, I feel like I’m killing a couple birds with one stone, and I can retain what I’ve read.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/gabrielle-union-by-the-book-interview.html

What Has One Eye and 1,200 Heads? An Old English Riddle, That’s What!

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Riddles are as old as the English language and, as Adrienne Raphel explains, can tell us a lot about Anglo-Saxon culture — as long as we are able to solve them.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/books/review/anglo-saxon-old-english-riddles-andy-orchard.html

Wednesday 8 September 2021

A Writer Reckons With the Fact That ‘People Love Dead Jews’

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Dara Horn’s new essay collection looks at the ways the Jewish past has been contorted to elide the actual realities of anti-Semitism.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/books/review/dara-horn-people-love-dead-jews.html

Keep Keeping a Logbook

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Notes on the passage of time.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/at-home/newsletter.html

From Working on Watches to Writing About Them

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This watchmaker overcame traditional hurdles to earn a doctorate. Her new book looks at the history, art and science of horology.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/fashion/watches-rebecca-struthers-book-england.html

Colson Whitehead Reinvents Himself, Again

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After winning back-to-back Pulitzers, the author of “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys” took another detour with his new crime novel, “Harlem Shuffle.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/books/colson-whitehead-harlem-shuffle.html

Married 39 Years, and Ready to Call It Quits Over Their Kids’ Objections

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In María Amparo Escandón’s third novel, “L.A. Weather,” readers can expect a year of stormy days.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/books/review/la-weather-maria-amparo-escandon.html

The Dangers of Making War Less Dangerous

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In “Humane,” Samuel Moyn argues that making war less cruel diverts Americans from pursuing the more radical goal of genuine peace.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/books/review-humane-united-states-abandoned-peace-reinvented-war-samuel-moyn.html

Newly Published, From a Naked Humans Society to Kyoto Travels

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A selection of books published this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/books/review/new-this-week.html

Tuesday 7 September 2021

Colm Toibin Imagines the Life of Thomas Mann in ‘The Magician’

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Toibin’s new novel is a survey of the German writer’s monumental career, complicated family life and hidden sexuality.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/colm-toibin-magician.html

The History of Dreams, From Greek Mythology to Last Night’s Sleep

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In “The Oracle of Night,” Sidarta Ribeiro makes a resounding case for the mystery, beauty and cognitive importance of dreams.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review-oracle-of-night-science-dreams-sidarta-ribeiro.html

A Heart-Rending Novel About an Intersex Teenager Forced to Live as a Boy

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In her debut, “An Ordinary Wonder,” Buki Papillon explores the complex, and often painful, experiences of a Nigerian teenager forced to deny her identity.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/an-ordinary-wonder-buki-papillon.html

Despite the Cosby Ruling, Andrea Constand Feels Like a ‘Symbol of Hope’

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As she releases her memoir, Constand details her reactions to the court decision that overturned Bill Cosby’s conviction on sexual assault charges.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/arts/andrea-constand-bill-cosby.html

‘Beautiful Country,’ by Qian Julie Wang: An Excerpt

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An excerpt from “Beautiful Country,” by Qian Julie Wang

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/beautiful-country-by-qian-julie-wang-an-excerpt.html

In ‘American Rust,’ Buildings Crumble, Passions Burn

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Set amid the Rust Belt towns of Western Pennsylvania, the new series, starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney, tells a story of good people and bad choices.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/arts/television/american-rust-jeff-daniels.html

New to the American Melting Pot, and Finding Its Taste Bittersweet

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In her memoir, “Beautiful Country,” Qian Julie Wang gives readers a child’s-eye view of what it’s like to find your way in a strange land.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/group-text-beautiful-country-qian-julie-wang.html

In Tokyo, a Bored Wife Seeks Excitement

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Emily Itami’s debut novel asks an age-old question: Does marriage and kids mean monotony and obligation or is there room for one’s authentic self?

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/fault-lines-emily-itami.html

Stuck With a Sick Parent in Hospital Hell

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Lo Yi-Chin’s novel “Faraway” recounts a Taiwanese man’s struggle to get his father home from mainland China.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/lo-yi-chin-faraway.html

For This Basketball Team, a Championship Was Just the First Challenge

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In “Brothers on Three,” Abe Streep follows a high school basketball team through both a championship season and a reservation suicide epidemic.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/brothers-on-three-abe-streep.html

On Matters of Race, Randall Kennedy Demands Thinking Over Feeling

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Kennedy’s new essay collection, “Say It Loud!,” challenges many common beliefs in the name of individuality.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/randall-kennedy-say-it-loud.html

Moving to New York With Little Cash but Charm to Spare

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“Happy Hour,” a debut novel by Marlowe Granados, follows a pair of thrifty, stylish and nimble young women navigating the big city.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/marlowe-granados-happy-hour.html

Trans Rights and Gender Identity

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In “Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality,” Helen Joyce argues against an increasingly popular idea.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/trans-helen-joyce.html

Sally Rooney’s Novel of Letters Puts a Fresh Spin on Familiar Questions

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“Beautiful World, Where Are You” asks readers to consider everything from the nature of fame to our place in the modern world.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/beautiful-world-where-are-you-sally-rooney.html

His Mother Is Terminally Ill. His Father, a Mystery.

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In Atticus Lish’s second novel, “The War for Gloria,” a teenage boy shoulders grueling family hardships.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/atticus-lish-war-for-gloria.html

How One New York Firefighter Remembers 9/11 — and What He Learned

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Joseph Pfeifer was a battalion chief on 9/11, and his memoir, “Ordinary Heroes,” vividly describes the day as seen by someone at ground zero.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/joseph-pfeifer-ordinary-heroes.html

Monday 6 September 2021

A Cautionary Tale for the New Roaring Twenties

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What does “The Wild Party,” an obscure but chillingly prescient book-length poem from the twilight of the Jazz Age, tell us about our own era?

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/t-magazine/wild-party-roaring-twenties.html

Dawn Turner Looks Back on Her ’70s Girlhood, and Those Who Got Left Behind

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“Three Girls From Bronzeville” follows three close-knit children as they grow up to become radically different women.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/books/review/dawn-turner-three-girls-from-bronzeville.html

Why Did Two People So Poorly Matched Stay Together So Long?

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Christopher Sorrentino’s memoir, “Now Beacon, Now Sea,” examines the endurance and effects of his parents’ confounding marriage.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/books/review/christopher-sorrentino-now-beacon-sea.html

Venita Blackburn Captures the Wonder, and Danger, of Young Womanhood

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The stories in “How to Wrestle a Girl” follow characters in lust, in grief, in fear and online.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/books/review/venita-blackburn-how-to-wrestle-a-girl.html

After a Cataclysm, the Nature Lovers in ‘Harrow’ Struggle to Stay Sane

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Joy Williams’s fifth novel is about a teenager named Khristen who washes up at a retreat filled with elderly eco-warriors.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/books/review-harrow-joy-williams.html

Sunday 5 September 2021

When an Art Fair Is Also a (Rare) Book Fair

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Dealers in rare books and manuscripts discuss the challenges and benefits of showing their works online and share advice for new collectors.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/arts/tefaf-rare-books.html

S.A. Cosby, a Writer of Violent Noirs, Claims the Rural South as His Own

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After years of small breaks, Cosby has found big success with “Blacktop Wasteland” and “Razorblade Tears,” propulsive books about family, sex, race, class and the stain of Southern history.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/books/s-a-cosby-razorblade-tears-crime-novelist.html

Maggie Nelson Exposes Freedom’s Paradoxes

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The poet and critic’s latest book, “On Freedom,” is a philosophical meditation on a concept at the center of American history and culture.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/books/review/on-freedom-maggie-nelson.html

Saturday 4 September 2021

There’s a GameStop Book, Already

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With “The Antisocial Network,” Ben Mezrich does for January’s infamous short squeeze what he did for Facebook with “The Accidental Billionaires.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/books/review/the-antisocial-network-by-ben-mezrich.html

Friday 3 September 2021

Stephen Vizinczey, ‘In Praise of Older Women’ Author, Dies at 88

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His best-known work, somewhat scandalous for the mid-1960s, treated sex frankly and sold millions of copies.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/stephen-vizinczey-dead.html

Andrew Sullivan on Being ‘Out on a Limb’

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Sullivan talks about his collection of essays, and Leila Slimani discusses “In the Country of Others.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/review/podcast-andrew-sullivan-out-on-a-limb-leila-slimani-country-of-others.html

What to Do This Weekend

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Jam and eggs.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/at-home/newsletter.html

Yoga for Readers

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Sometimes you can combine what’s good for your mind with what’s good for your body.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/yoga-for-readers.html

The Children of 9/11 Come of Age

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Three middle grade books explore bias and discrimination against Muslim American young people in the terrorist attack’s devastating aftermath.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/review/childrens-books-about-9-11-muslim-discrimination.html

How 9/11 Shaped American Fiction

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The Times’s book critics reflect on how 9/11 has influenced writers and readers.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/911-anniversary-fiction-literature.html

The Navy SEAL Who Went Rogue

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David Philipps’s “Alpha” tells the story of an out-of-control Navy officer who won the protection of Donald Trump and escaped a murder charge.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/review/david-philipps-alpha.html

New in Paperback: ‘What You Are Going Through,’ ‘Finding Freedom’

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Six new paperbacks to check out this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/review/new-paperbacks.html

The Ideal Reading Experience, The American Dollar and Other Letters to the Editor

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Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/books/review/the-ideal-reading-experience-the-american-dollar-and-other-letters-to-the-editor.html

Thursday 2 September 2021

8 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/books/review/8-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

The Poetic Justice of Amanda Gorman’s Estée Lauder Contract

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The inside story of how it happened and why it matters.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/style/amanda-gorman-estee-lauder.html

Can American Democracy Survive Another Pandemic?

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Adam Tooze’s “Shutdown” warns that we are ill equipped to deal with another health crisis or other immense problems that may challenge us.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/books/review/adam-tooze-shutdown.html

Sally Rooney Book Swag and the Hype for 'Beautiful World, Where Are You'

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Ahead of the release of Sally Rooney’s third novel, bucket hats, tote bags and “status galleys” are the talk of the literary internet.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/style/sally-rooney-book-merch.html

5 Design Books That Are Easy on the Eyes

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These new books explore the nonessential but delightful pursuit of the ornamental.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/books/design-style.html

Maggie Nelson Wants to Redefine ‘Freedom’

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In her new essay collection, the writer wants to enunciate all the meanings and manifestations of the word that our current conversation obscures.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/magazine/maggie-nelson-on-freedom.html

Poem: Flight

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Sometimes the poem sings when you say it, and then sings more when you say it again.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/magazine/poem-flight.html

The Best-Seller List Welcomes Oprah’s Latest Pick and an Eyebrow-Raising Gadget

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September is a brisk month for big books. This week’s standouts include “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” and “Dopamine Nation.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/books/review/the-love-songs-of-web-dubois-honoree-fanonne-jeffers.html

Sandra Cisneros Loves to Read About Women Waging Battle

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“These are not your typical war stories.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/books/review/sandra-cisneros-by-the-book-interview.html

Wednesday 1 September 2021

How to Keep the Days From Blurring Together

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Marking time with church bells and bike rides.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/at-home/newsletter.html

Robert Middlekauff, Historian of Washington and His War, Dies at 91

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He wrote what many believe to be the best single-volume history of the Revolutionary War and another work seeing the war through the eyes of George Washington.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/books/robert-middlekauff-dead.html

Book Review: ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You,” by Sally Rooney

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In “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” the novelist and her stand-ins chew over questions about fame, sex, idealism and other subjects.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/books/review-sally-rooney-beautiful-world-where-are-you.html

Salman Rushdie Is Now on Substack

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The Booker Prize-winning author has reached a deal with the newsletter platform, where he plans to publish fiction and interact with readers.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/business/media/salman-rushdie-substack.html

Refugees Are Suffering. This Novelist Won’t Look Away.

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Rabih Alameddine writes about topics many would rather forget. In his new book, “The Wrong End of the Telescope,” he tells the story of a transgender doctor attempting to care for people fleeing war-torn Syria.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/books/rabih-alameddine-wrong-end-telescope.html

Newly Published, From Water Statues to the Supreme Court

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A selection of books published this week.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/books/review/new-this-week.html
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