All posts tagged: Reads

Rachel Kushner Reads from Love and Death in the American Novel | Leslie A. Fiedler, Rachel Kushner

Rachel Kushner Reads from Love and Death in the American Novel | Leslie A. Fiedler, Rachel Kushner

Published by Jenni Sidey

In this episode of Private Life, Rachel Kushner reads an excerpt from Leslie A. Fiedler’s Love and Death in the American Novel (1960), which was reissued by New York Review Books in April. In Kushner’s selection, Fiedler writes about Mark Twain and the themes and characters of his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. Kushner is best known for her novels Telex from Cuba (2008), The Flamethrowers (2013), and The Mars Room (2018). Her most recent novel is Creation Lake (2024).   Leslie A. Fiedler (1917–2003) was a literary critic and novelist. His books include The Stranger in Shakespeare (1972), Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self (1978), and Fiedler on the Roof: Essays on Literature and Jewish Identity (1991). Last week’s episode featured Edwin Frank in a conversation about Fiedler’s literary criticism and Love and Death in the American Novel. You can find Love and Death in the American …

📚 A president who reads

📚 A president who reads

Published by Jenni Sidey

THE HEADLINE Obama’s new book podcast has its guests Image courtesy of Audible, Inc. The reveal is here at last! Audible and Higher Ground have announced the anticipated guest lineup for A Great Book With Barack Obama. The intimate six-part podcast series hosted by our former Reader in Chief features the following “luminaries” in conversation about the books that have shaped President Obama’s worldview and our society: Episode 1: Tom Hanks (Uncommon Type) on Gilead by Marilynne Robinson Episode 2: Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me) on The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin Episode 3: Jill Lepore (These Truths: A History of the United States) on All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren Episode 4: Ben Rhodes (The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House) on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré Episode 5: Percival Everett (James) on Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Episode 6: Lauren Groff (Florida) on All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy A Great Book with Barack Obama debuts on Audible …

Pulse-Pounding Reads for Thriller Fans

Pulse-Pounding Reads for Thriller Fans

Published by Jenni Sidey

Apple Books Apple Books is your destination to find and buy audiobooks and ebooks. Discovering and enjoying your next favorite story is a seamless experience across your devices. From thrillers to mysteries, the choices are endless. All with no subscription or monthly commitment. All thrillers have a few things in common: tension, suspense, high stakes, and danger—physical, psychological, or both. Often, there’s a ticking clock or a mystery to solve. Sometimes, a big twist. Narrators may be unreliable, and alibis may be fabricated. There’s a formula to thrillers, and that formula is a feature, not a bug. Thriller writers at the top of their game know this: the constraints provide a framework that forces them to be creative if they want to stand out in one of the most popular genres of the day. Whether you’re looking for the grittiest crime fiction, sci-fi psychological suspense, or a locked-room story that will have your blood pressure all the way up, there’s something for you in this collection of pulse-pounding reads from some of the best authors …

5 Summerween Romance Reads

5 Summerween Romance Reads

Published by Jenni Sidey

For those of us who love Halloween, the fact that it only happens once a year is thoroughly lamentable. Luckily, there’s a solution for that, and it’s called Summerween. What, you may ask, is Summerween? The term “originated from an episode of Disney Channel’s Gravity Falls where residents of a mysterious town prefer to celebrate Halloween twice a year.” In other words, it’s a phantasmagoric phenomenon unintentionally ignited by an episode of a TV show that gives Halloweenies everywhere permission to celebrate spooky-style all summer long! That’s right, folks, Summerween is the perfect excuse to get your fall feels on in the middle of the hottest season of the year (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). And what better way to turn the heat up than with some spicy Summerween romance reads? The obvious book to go for would be Joss Wood’s sweet small town romcom, since it’s literally called Summerween — and it’s definitely worth the read. But I’m taking you into the woods for some additional options for you to check out. Vampires in August? A …

The Best Pride Month Reads in Every Genre

The Best Pride Month Reads in Every Genre

Published by Jenni Sidey

Bloomsbury Academic From zines and basement shows, queercore cut, pasted, and screamed its way across borders. This is the story of the artists and networks who pushed back—and reshaped punk on their own terms. Happy Pride Month, queer readers and allies! We all love championing queer stories year-round, but it’s June, which means it’s time for our shelves to get gayer than ever. We’re all looking to read more books this month featuring queer characters and written by queer authors, so here are some of the latest and greatest queer reads in every genre that you should prioritize reading right now! Romance Puck by Samantha Allen Just in time for Pride Month, Samantha Allen’s queer retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream hit shelves on June 2nd. In this version, rather than being a trickster fairy, Puck is a non-binary reality TV producer who cleverly manipulates relationships for entertainment. So when Puck is invited to their college best friend’s wedding, they see an ideal opportunity to use their producing skills to meddle with all of their …

The Best Beach Reads of All Time

The Best Beach Reads of All Time

Published by Jenni Sidey

If you want to keep a handy list of beach reads you can revisit each summer and track your reading each year (or try to get through them all in one season–go, you!), we’ve got you covered with this handy dandy printout collecting all of the books on this list. And if you need more, more, more books, here are 63 titles we nominated that didn’t make the cut: A Half-Baked Murder by Emily George A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Aniana del Mar Jumps In by Jasminne Mendez Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah …

Atlantic Reads: ‘How to Be a Dissident,’ by Gal Beckerman

Atlantic Reads: ‘How to Be a Dissident,’ by Gal Beckerman

Published by Daniella Wilson

On Wednesday, May 13, the Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman will sit down with podcast host Adam Harris to discuss Beckerman’s new book, How to Be a Dissident. Beckerman’s book is part philosophy, part history, and part manual for living with integrity in an age of conformity and authoritarian drift. In How to Be a Dissident, Beckerman draws on the stories of dissidents from around the globe and across time, to provide models for pushing back against tyranny. Harris and Beckerman will discuss the defining characteristics that such extraordinary figures share, and the lessons they can offer. Attendees can submit questions in advance for Beckerman to answer live during the session. Submit your questions here. To join the conversation, return to this page on Wednesday, May 13, at noon ET. Or add the event to your calendar. How to Be a Dissident is available wherever books are sold. Source link

Just Some Fun Latine Reads

Just Some Fun Latine Reads

Published by José Betancourt

Whether you’re in the mood for a fun read just because or in reaction to the many stress-inducing headlines filling up your feeds (there are… so many), I am happy to recommend a batch of books to lighten the mood and put a smile on your face. We could all use a bit of levity, and these reads bring the fun in many different flavors. These are books by Latine authors that made me laugh out loud, send chaotic messages to my friends with out-of-context quotes, or that friends and colleagues have recommended to me with lots of enthusiasm. They include a memoir that made me snort iced coffee, a romantic adventure in a Mexican jungle, a culinary cozy mystery, and a YA fantasy novel set (mostly) under the sea. Lots of these are series starters, so there’s bonus fun included. *tips hat * You’re welcome. Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer In 2017, John Paul Brammer got the opportunity to write …

Gini Alhadeff Reads from André Breton’s ‘Nadja’ | André Breton, Gini Alhadeff

Gini Alhadeff Reads from André Breton’s ‘Nadja’ | André Breton, Gini Alhadeff

Published by Jenni Sidey

In this episode of Private Life, the writer, translator, and editor Gini Alhadeff reads excerpts from Mark Polizzotti’s recent translation, for NYRB Classics, of André Breton’s 1928 surrealist novel, Nadja. Blending autobiography and fiction, this abidingly strange book recounts, analyzes, and remembers Breton’s brief love affair with the eponymous young woman in 1920s Paris. Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. Alhadeff is the author of a memoir, The Sun at Midday (1997), and a novel, Diary of a Dijinn (2003), and the translator of a number of Italian novels, including I Am the Brother of XX, by Fleur Jaeggy, and The Road to the City, by Natalia Ginzburg.  To find Mark Polizzotti’s translation of Nadja by André Breton and other NYRB Classics, visit our book imprint at nyrb.com. Subscribe to The New York Review of Books, which, in addition to twenty print issues a year, provides online access to our full archive going back to 1963. Source link

Backlist Reads to Pick Up in 2026

Backlist Reads to Pick Up in 2026

Published by Jenni Sidey

Do you ever fall in love with a book and then wonder why you aren’t seeing more people read it? Me too! So before the new year gets into full swing with all of its latest book releases, I thought I’d share some of my favorite backlist books. And when I was putting this list together, I realized they’re all from the South, too! We stan a Southern hidden gem. Obsessed with Audiobooks? Win 12 Credits to Libro.fm and upgrade your 2026 commute! Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change by Anjali Enjeti Enjeti and her family moved to the South when she was small. Since then, she’s called the South her home. But as a mixed-race Brown girl, many people there didn’t necessarily make her feel welcome. Now, as an adult, she’s able to look back and reflect on her experience with racism. At the same time, she addresses her complicity in systemic racism. She discusses ways she can embody antiracist values and fight for oppressed people in her own community and beyond. …