Patrick Modiano goes beyond the checklist accuracies of historical fiction, fashioning a lush fever dream filled with glamor, mystery, and despair. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: In the Cafe of Lost Youth, by Patrick Modiano @ NYJB
Compelling passages, notable quotables, bon mots, disjecta, ephemera, and miscellany. I admire those very broad people who through the decades become broader and broader yet do not give in. But the unyieldingly narrow are horrible. [1957 – 1959] A ceremonial beast, assembled from tiaras. [1960] That the behavior of dictators is perfidious is no longer surprising. But that mankind still craves authoritarianism, despite their appalling record of failure, is incomprehensible. With these monstrous examples right before our eyes, how are we so stupid, and how it is possible, faced with all that has happened, for us to lie to ourselves … Continue reading Commonplace Book/Translation Tuesdays: Elias Canetti on minds and monsters
English conservative Catholic writer GK Chesterton tells us what’s wrong with the world … especially politicians. Continue reading Commonplace Book: G.K. Chesterton on politicians
“The Mizrahi Era of Rebellion: Israel’s Forgotten Civil Rights Struggle 1948–1966 (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East),” by Bryan K. Roby seeks to complicate this simplified vision of Israeli history. Continue reading The Mizrahi Era of Rebellion: Israel’s Forgotten Civil Rights Struggle 1948–1966 (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), by Bryan K. Roby @ NYJB
This week I review “Kinda Sorta American Dream,” by Steve Karas, a short story collection poised between comedy and apocalypse. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Kinda Sorta American Dream, by Steve Karas
This week I review “The Orthodox Dilemma,” by George Alexander, a personal exploration of the administrative, political, and dogmatic challenges facing the Orthodox Christian community. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Orthodox Dilemma, by George Alexander
Originally published in 2005, Feral House has reissued “Sin-a-Rama: Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties” in a new, expanded edition. Edited by Adam Parfrey and B. Astrid Daley, Sin-a-Rama delves into this lesser known literary genre. Continue reading More NSFW Files: Sin-a-Rama: Expanded Edition: Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties, edited by Adam Parfey and B. Astrid Daley
“Sick” by Gabby Schulz is the quintessential graphic novel for this violent, demented, and hypocritical epoch of American history. Continue reading Sick by Gabby Schulz @ NYJB
This year Seth Kaufman released “The War on Boredom,” a collection of short stories, and “Nuns with Guns,” a social satire on America’s unhealthy gun obsession. I talked with Seth about reality TV, nuns and guns, and the power of network television. Continue reading THE SETH KAUFMAN INTERVIEW
“Houses” by Borislav Pekic offers a fascinating window into literature of the other Europe Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Houses, by Borislav Pekic @NYJB
The Driftless Area Review 