“Writing means being overheard,” writes Zadie Smith in her new book.
Literature
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Mary Gordon on Max Jacob, a (tormented) lover of God
Max Jacob, a poet and painter, reminds us of the complex possibilities of a life lived passionately, ardently, playfully and in torment.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Seeking ways to engage in an ailing world
Marcus Mescher’s new book makes clear what the most pressing contemporary social injustices are, ranging from immigration to domestic violence, from “social sorting” to homophobia, from racism to poverty.
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Review: ‘The Pull of the Stars’ brings a Gatsbyesque approach to finding humor in a pandemic
Emma Donoghue’s new novel unfolds over the course of All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day—with a chatty cast of priests, nuns and philosophizing orderlies running about—adding to the sanctified air.
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Review: Barack Obama’s boundless optimism for a brighter future
in Barack Obama’s new memoir, readers get to know a host of colorful characters who played a role in the campaign for the presidency and Obama’s first term in office.
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Review: We are all responsible for the future of our planet
Eric Holthaus experiences climate change as a wound, a rending in the fabric of society and ecology.
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Review: How a family’s faith becomes their downfall
This debut novel by 29-year-old Marieke Lucas Rijneveld won the 2020 International Booker Prize.
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Review: In the crosshairs of the F.B.I.
Aaron J. Leonard’s new book draws from almost 10,000 pages of F.B.I. files on an array of folk artists. It aims to illustrate the considerable impact that the U.S. government’s campaign against Communism had on folk artists in the 1940s and early ’50s.
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Remembering John le Carré, who knew that deep down, we all want to be secret agents
John le Carré, who died earlier in December, was a wildly popular spy novelist—and one of the English world’s finest fiction writers of the last half-century.
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Review: What does the future of the church hold? Look to China.
A new book of essays on the Catholic Church in China ably captures the evolving turmoil the church faces in a complicated situation.