Over at The New York Times, Lauren Chistensen interviews Ottessa Moshfegh about her latest book, Death in Her Hands, which follows Vesta, an aging woman with a steadily fading grip on reality, whose isolation takes on new significance in today’s quarantined climate. “It isn’t so much that Vesta was alone and she went insane,” Moshfesh says. “This is a woman who chose to live in isolation to find peace toward the end of her life—and, in the process, encountered her imagination.”
Ottessa Moshfegh on Imagination in Isolation
Meg Wolitzer YA
Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings has been a Millions favorite, so we’re excited to hear about her next book, Belzhar, a young adult novel inspired by Sylvia Plath. The book comes out on September 30 and follows a 16-year-old grieving at a boarding school for fragile teenagers, where she and her classmates discover an alternate world. Wolitzer spoke to NPR about why she was drawn to YA. “Much of what adolescents feel seems set in relief, and much of what they experience is happening to them for the first time.”
New Octavia Butler
When Octavia Butler died in 2006, she left behind unseen short stories. Butler’s agent has discovered two unpublished stories in the author’s papers. “A Necessary Being” features a lonely alien leader, and “Childminder” is about mentoring telepaths. The two stories will be published this summer in the collection Unexpected Stories.
Tuesday Means New Releases
Celebrate today’s arrival of John Irving’s new novel Last Night in Twisted River by seeing where it falls on Wikipedia’s John Irving recurring themes matrix. Also new today is Paul Auster’s Invisible and a new collection of Paris Review interviews (including, among others, Marilynne Robinson, Haruki Murakami, Philip Roth). Speaking of Roth, his new novel The Humbling came out last week.
●
●
Digital Eustace
Sparksheet interviews Blake Eskin, the New Yorker’s first and only web editor, who shares the venerable magazine’s unique approach to having an online presence. (via)
●
●
“Insatiable Maw”
“In recent decades the traditional outlets for individual short stories have dwindled, with literary magazines closing or shrinking. But the Internet has created an insatiable maw to feed.” Why both the Internet and electronic devices might be good for the short story.
●
●
The Rooster Crows
The Morning News has announced the judges for its annual Tournament of books. The Millions is represented again this year. The Tournament shortlist has also been announced, so start handicapping!