Humiliation author Wayne Koestenbaum takes a page out of our own Mark O’Connell’s book to review Édouard Levé’s Autoportrait.
Koestenbaum on Levé
On Migration
Granta asks their contributors what it means to be a migrant or a refugee in light of the crisis in Europe. Twenty-eight authors respond in visual media, personal essays, and poems. You could also read our migrations book list for more perspectives.
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New DeLillo
Details are just now starting to trickle out about a new Don DeLillo book out early next year. In Point Omega, DeLillo “takes on the secret strategist in America’s war machine,” according to publisher Scribner.
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It’s the reader.
In his review of Ben Marcus‘s The Flame Alphabet for the LARB, Lee Konstantinou suggests that we have now moved well beyond the death of the author: “In an era where everyone has a novel waiting to come out, authors are legion; it’s the reader who seems, well, dead.” When we interviewed Marcus earlier this year he did not seem particularly mournful. We also reviewed the novel.
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2010’s Best Nonfiction
“Nearly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism” from 2010, compiled, annotated, and linked-to by Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic. No Millions pieces here, alas, but we’re gunning for you in 2011, Friedersdorf!
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Living Like Fitzgerald
Looking for a new summer home? Something with an impressive literary pedigree? You’re in luck! Now you can buy the house where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gastsby for the low, low price of $3.8 million.
Law and Order: Library Edition
“We don’t want to run a for-profit business, or even a break-even business that’s based on income. It’s something that would not return a great deal of money for us and would create an adversarial role.” The Huffington Post reports on the growing number of libraries dropping overdue fines. Pair with Daniel Penev on why public libraries have a more vital role to play in the culture than ever before.
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Writing About Oneself
Recommended Reading: Karl Ove Knausgaard and Sheila Heti discuss literary ambition and the price of success.