Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Partita’ Captures Dreams Deferred
Less energetic than Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s Partita still captivates with its story of idealists waylaid by class and tragedy.
book review
Colson Whitehead’s ‘Cool Machine’ Is Powered by His Ruminating Prose
Titanic events unfold over the course of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy, which ends with Cool Machine, yet the stories truly live in the inner workings of the protagonist’s mind.
Physicist Christophe Galfard Takes on Who We Are in ‘This Is Life’
With the techniques of a novelist, Christophe Galfard uses engaging prose, mastery of knowledge in many realms, and remarkable skills of synthesis to explain what is known about life on Earth and possibly elsewhere.
Andrew Sacher Immortalises 2010s Emo in ‘Emo Revival’
The 2010s were a pivotal era for emo. One of the most appropriate to trace the history of the emo revival is Andrew Sacher, who spent 16 years covering the scene.
Heading Down the Same Bob Dylan Road
Although How Many Roads isn’t an essential Bob Dylan biography, not all books have to be necessary to be effective and rewarding.
Adam Gnade’s ‘Wild Horse Shit’ Encourages Joyful Resistance
Cult novelist Adam Gnade’s latest, Wild Horse Shit, wrestles with the state of the world, encouraging untamed joy in the face of fascism.
The Celestial Is Grounded in Dorthe Nors’ ‘Range’
Dorthe Nors’ Range is a story of suspension between two realms, one on a granular day-to-day scale and one whose scale is incomprehensibly vast.
Jesse Malin’s Memoir Is the Tale of an Extraordinary Everyman
Jesse Malin’s adventures through NYC take Almost Grown‘s readers through hallowed music landmarks where he is found rubbing shoulders with legends with almost comic frequency.
Anne Hellman’s Novel ‘The Indecipherables’ Is Pure Cinema
The Indecipherables, Anne Hellman’s pastiche of Hitchcock’s, Lynch’s, and Serling’s respective oeuvres, is a successful homage to “pure cinema”.
Robyn Hitchcock’s Tale of Two Obsessions
The beating heart of Robyn Hitchcock’s memoir, Stranded in the Future, is not necessarily his career but two great obsessions that inspired it.
The Velvet Underground Get a “Sister Ray”-Sized Biography
Among his many discoveries about the Velvet Underground, Richie Unterberger’s description of unheard tapes will have fans salivating.
‘The Coast of Everything’ Is Not a Puzzle to Be Solved But a Process to Inhabit
Guillermo Stitch’s metafiction The Coast of Everything is the sort of book that makes you feel simultaneously more intelligent and more illiterate.