Rivka Galchen talked to the New Yorker about her story in this week’s issue.
Dua Lipa shared her love for Hanya Yanagahira’s novel A Little Life at the Booker Prize website.
I will happily admit, as a devoted and lifelong reader, that there are more than a few books that have made me cry. But Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life is different: it was one of the first books where I openly sobbed after reading. By the end of it I felt profoundly changed. I’m not exaggerating when I say this novel challenged everything I thought I knew about love and friendship. It’s one of those books that stays with you forever.
eBook on sale for $1.99 today:
A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
eBooks on sale for $2.99 today:
Edie by Jean Stein
Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
eBook on sale for $3.99 today:
Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light by Peter Schjeldahl
Madeline Weinfield explored the power of Patsy Cline’s voice (and country music) at the Oxford American.
BuzzFeed recommended books that capture what it’s like to live with a disability.
Rosie Thomas covered the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.”
Paste shared an excerpt from James Kennedy’s novel Bride of the Tornado.
Stream a new song by Jenny Lewis.
Tara Ison talked to Electric Literature about her novel At the Hour Between Dog and Wolf.
When I first started writing the book twenty-five years ago, I was primarily interested in the psychological trajectory of Danielle. It wasn’t until five or six years ago that I realized how disturbingly timely the narrative is. We’re witnessing a global resurgence of fascist dogma, radical right-wing ideologies, anti-Semitism. Have we learned nothing? It was disturbing in recent years to re-read sections I’d written ten years ago and feel like I was reading a headline from today, or the words of a speech from a current world leader.
Pitchfork interviewed members of the post-punk band Model/Actriz.
Joanna Schwartz talked to Fresh Air about her book Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable.
Bandcamp Daily profiled composer and musician Brian Harnetty.
“Sometimes I call it archival performances, but that feels a little too fancy,” Harnetty says. “When I’m writing about it, I define it as a kind of interpretation of archival materials.” His method puts a frame of new music around audio from the past, turning a piece of archival audio into a listening object, while the music connects the present day listener to a voice that is likely gone—a ghost speaking from the past, the present making music with it.
Rafael Frumkin discussed his novel Confidence (one of my favorite books of the year) with Shondaland.
…Ezra and Orson’s romantic connection is certainly meaningful, the author never wanted it to be the most telling thing about their dynamic. “The book isn’t necessarily about queerness per se — the queerness is just a fact of it,” Frumkin says. “That was really cool for me, because let’s normalize queerness; let’s normalize these gay relationships. It felt really good to have that in there.”
PopMatters shared an excerpt from Michael Goldberg’s book Addicted to Noise: The Music Writings of Michael Goldberg.
Tor.com shared an excerpt from Owen King’s novel The Curator.
Stream a new song by SBTRKT.
Kirkus recommended books that challenge ideas about gender.
Stream a new song by superviolet.
The New York Times profiled author Maryse Condé.
Her extensive roots around the world have enriched Condé’s work, giving it a distinct perspective on the Black diaspora. The French Guadeloupean writer Sarah-Estelle Bulle, the author of “Where Dogs Bark With Their Tails,” sees Condé’s life and books as historical and cultural bridges. “Her experiences in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, as well as the U.S., are so vast that they allow us to think about the complex links between those worlds,” Bulle said. “She has an open culture and she is deeply attached to the notion of a global world and human culture. This is not so common in French literature.”
Stream a new song by Barrie.
Aquarium Drunkard recommended some books.
Stream a new song by Acid Tongue.
Stream a new song by The Tallest Man on Earth.
Aquarium Drunkard interviewed the duo Hermanos Gutiérrez.