“The trick to getting through your twenties intact, it seemed to me, was looking ahead to the narrative I could impose on that decade later in life.” The last book The Rumpus loved? Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
The Second Coming
David Byrne Talks Music
David Byrne, Talking Heads frontman, sits down with Smithsonian Magazine’s Seth Colter Walls to discuss his life, musical tastes, and his latest book, How Music Works. You can also read an excerpt from the book over here. (Also, you know, just because I have to...)
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Meet Ironheart
"I just think it'll have such a positive effect on the geek community, the black girl community, the black geek girl community... just opening the doors of your mind to what you can achieve." The newest character to wear Iron Man's suit? A 15-year-old girl named Riri Williams, reports NPR. As for your own inner geek, might they be interested in an unauthorized corporate history of Marvel Comics?
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Unread Classics
Admit it: you never finished Finnegans Wake, did you?
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Blade Culture
In Preparation for the Next Life, Atticus Lish showcased his ability to write brutal, unforgiving stories in terse, economical prose. This new short story from Granta is no different (and no less beautiful).
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“A Minor Manifesto”
Ian Crouch writes for The New Yorker about a new version of The Sun Also Rises, which gives readers a peak into Hemingway's drafts and revisions. Crouch believes that by reading these drafts carefully, one can pick out a "minor manifesto" that "conceives of a book with greater intellectual and artistic ambitions than Hemingway ever produced." In the words of Hemingway's character Jake Barnes, "Isn''t it pretty to think so?" Pair with our own review of the latest edition of The Sun Also Rises.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Haruf; Johnson; Bacigalupi; Nichols; Taylor
New this week: Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf; Loving Day by Mat Johnson; The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi; The Rocks by Peter Nichols; and The Shore by Sara Taylor. For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great 2015 Book Preview.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Rash, Gavin, Hainey
New this week: a pair of highly anticipated collections, Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash and Middle Men by Jim Gavin. Also out is Michael Hainey's intriguing memoir chronicling his investigation into his father's mysterious death, After Visiting Friends.
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The Times on Boo
Upon the release of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the Times profiles the spotlight-shy Katherine Boo, "Unlike many journalists Katherine Boo aspires to invisibility."