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Notes following Terry Teachout’s Pops talk uptown

Last night my pal Terry Teachout read from Pops, his smart, engaging, and widely-praised new biography of Louis Armstrong, and showed some footage. While answering questions afterward, Terry recommended that everyone listen to this week’s New Yorker podcast, which includes an audio clip of Armstrong trying to cajole his wife into bed in the wee hours. His horn has to . . .

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Books in hard times

Mike Cane researches publishing in the Great Depression. Previously: Was 1935 “the worst time in history to be starting out as a writer”?

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Larkin listicle

Alex Balk ranks Philip Larkin’s poems, but omits “Here,” explaining, “It’s his ‘Suedehead.’”

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