“Our children, at least in this country, with no tales of war to tell; only music and clothes. Infuriating and a blessing for our parents, who had experienced the abyss staring back at them. I suppose their memories must have hung around their necks like stinking albatrosses, only for their children to turn out themselves to be an abyss gazing back at the next generation. Is it catching? Whose 1950s was I living?” This installment of Jenny Diski’s memoir from the London Review of Books is not to be missed.
Honesty Trumps Good Manners
Takeaway Point
Zadie Smith could write herself out of a Chinese takeout box, and that’s exactly what she does in her essay on the differences between British and American takeout culture, “Take It Or Leave It,” for The New Yorker. “I don’t think any nation should elevate service to the status of culture.”
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The Melrose Series
Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose series will be adapted into a five-part Showtime series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. A few years back on our site, Ben Hamilton wrote, “the pleasures of reading Edward St Aubyn’s Melrose novels can feel strangely illicit.”
Toni Morrison on Love, Forgiveness, and Race Relations
Toni Morrison talked about writing, race relations, and journalism in a conversation with Hilton Als at the New Yorker Festival last week, and the highlights are available online. Als has also written an illuminating profile of Morrison for the magazine.
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How Does It Feel / To Wait for a Release Date?
A release date for D’Angelo’s long-anticipated Voodoo follow-up is due any day now, so I really recommend checking out Amy Wallace’s stellar profile of the artist to stoke your interest.
Masters Review: Fall Fiction Contest
The Masters Review has announced Ann and Jeff VanderMeer as the judges for this year’s Fall Fiction Contest. The winning story will receive a $2,000 cash prize as well as publication in the magazine. Go submit, then read Josh Rolnick’s essay for The Millions on ten things he’s learned in over a decade of sending out stories.
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“Better yet, Carpe Wallpaper.”
Jessica Probus’ send-up of Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is brilliant. I present The YOLO Wallpaper.
Fact-Checking Fiasco
What do you think gets fact-checked the most rigorously: newspaper articles, magazine stories, or books? If you guessed books, you’d be surprised to know that they are rarely, if ever, fact-checked. At The Atlantic, Kate Newman questions why we have so much faith in books’ accuracy but why publishers don’t bother.
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