Why are Americans so enamored by immigrant fiction but rarely read anything in translation? David Naimon and Gary Shteyngart discuss this and more in the latest Between The Covers podcast. Shteyngart’s latest book, Little Failure, was part of our 2014 book preview.
Immigrant Song
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
Writer Manjula Martin has been a stock girl, used bookseller, seamstress, waitress, retailer, Girl Friday- just to name a few of her day jobs. She questions the value of the artist’s day job in her VQR post. “Why are writers so eager to leave work behind?” she writes.
Detroit Students Wait for Books
Seven weeks into the academic year, schoolwork is well under way at Detroit Public Schools. But many students—potentially thousands—are still waiting to receive textbooks.
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Let’s Get a Move On, Scientists
David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years (which was brilliantly reviewed by Benjamin Kunkel in the LRB recently), wonders why the world doesn’t yet have any flying cars. It’s 2012, people!
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