Roundup: Follow the Reader, Dmitry Samarov, Percival Everett, more
Last Friday Bethanne Patrick discussed the NBCC award nominees with board member Carolyn Kellogg and Balakian awardee Ron Charles for Follow the Reader, a weekly book chat on Twitter. You can catch up on their conversation (and Follow the Reader in...
Democracy: Skepticism Versus Cynicism
This is the third in a series of posts between myself and Jennifer Howard about Henry Adams’ 1880 novel, Democracy. Read her first post. Jennifer, Your point about Madeleine’s transgression is right, and, yes, a little chilling: Her mistake isn’t … Continue reading →
Roundup: NBCC finalists, Aharon Appelfeld, Kjersti Skomsvold, more
Last Saturday the NBCC announced the finalists for its book awards. Here at Critical Mass, you can see the full list of finalists in all six book categories, as well as the awardees of the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and the Nona Balaki...
Democracy: A Funny Town for a Woman
This is the first post in a discussion on Jennifer Howard‘s blog and mine about Henry Adams‘ 1880 novel, Democracy. For more background, you can read my introductory post as well as Jennifer’s. Jennifer, So, why did we decide to … Continue reading →
Some Programming Notes
I have a review of George Pelecanos‘ new novel, What It Was, at Washington City Paper. I had the rare luxury of an extended word count, so I tried to riff a little about how the new book (much like … Continue reading →
Roundup: Melissa Pritchard, John Updike, John Lewis Gaddis, and more
A reminder: On Saturday, January 21, the NBCC will announce the finalists for its annual awards. If you're in New York City, you can catch the announcement in person, or follow along on Twitter, where we'll be using the hashtag #nbcc.
Mic...
Links: Gag Rule
Shalom Auslander answers most of the questions in his Q&A with the Rumpus with jokes. Which makes moment when he (more or less) doesn’t, in response to a question about the connection between comedy and morals, interesting: “Humor is anger, … Continue reading →
Democracy Now
I’ve never tried hosting a group read on this blog. That’s partly because I don’t want to apply any more structure to writing-I-do-for-free than I have to, and partly because I haven’t found the a book that seemed right for … Continue reading →
Roundup: Upcoming 2012 Books, Roger Rosenblatt, James Franco, Sara Levine, more
Planning out your 2012 reading? The Millions has a hefty list of some of the new year’s biggest titles, and Scott Esposito gathers up some forthcoming 2012 books, with a special focus on small-press titles and works in translation.
Heller M...
Little Sentences and Middle Ground
In Open Letters Monthly, Nicholas Nardini has an interesting take on Don DeLillo‘s first short story collection, The Angel Esmerelda, arguing that DeLillo’s sentences are better equipped for his big-canvas novels: Despite the big novels, the basic unit of DeLilloan … Continue reading →
Links: Make It New
Ruth Franklin delivers a few of her reading resolutions for the 2012. Her fourth one, about avoiding distraction, seems increasingly essential. As for me, last year I read little besides 2010, ’11, and ’12 releases, and I hope to spend … Continue reading →
Roundup: Amin Maalouf, Jesmyn Ward, Quim Monzo, and More
Happy New Year! A few more lists looking back at 2011, as 2012 begins: Karen R. Long lists the year’s best books at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Gina Webb offers her favorites for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Was...
