“Expertly constructed, Mister Monkey is so fresh and new it’s almost giddy, almost impudent with originality. Tender and artful, Prose’s 15th novel is a sophisticated satire, a gently spiritual celebration of life, a dark and thoroughly grim depiction of despair, a screwball comedy, a screwball tragedy.” Cathleen Schine reviews Francine Prose’s newest novel, Mister Monkey, over at The New York Times.
A Screwball Tragedy
And Still I Rise
Via Galleycat we’re watching the just-released trailer for the upcoming documentary Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, which is scheduled to air on October 14th on PBS. Pair with this beautiful in memoriam we published upon her passing in 2014.
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“Abroad, you could be anything”
Following the news that Beyoncé sampled a TED talk given by Year in Reading contributor Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Tin House dug up an interview with the author, who says that to this day, when she looks at the manuscript of Americanah, she feels “thrilled and amazed that [she] actually finished writing this.”
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Every Love Story Gets a Book Trailer
The book trailer is out for Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story, D. T. Max’s biography of David Foster Wallace — it features a brief cameo from yours truly. The book’s opening paragraphs appeared on our site this week, too.
Chelsea Girl
Eileen Myles is the weird poet that the mainstream is finally starting to accept. Here’s an essay from Stephanie LaCava at The Millions on how social media helped to push Myles’s historically ignored avant-garde world into the mainstream.
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On the Ledge
“For years, growing up, I was obsessed with the thought; among my earliest memories is the desire, at age three or four, to run in front of an oncoming bus. Not because I wanted to see what would happen, but because I was sure I knew what would happen: I wouldn’t have to live any longer. I suspect there may be a suicide gene.” Clancy Martin tackles a perennially touchy subject.
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