Film-to-book Conrad convert
James Hynes came to Joseph Conrad, his favorite author, through the movies — after seeing Richard Brooks’ Lord Jim.
James Hynes came to Joseph Conrad, his favorite author, through the movies — after seeing Richard Brooks’ Lord Jim.
Laila Lalami is a precise thinker and essayist, an equally precise fiction writer, a veteran blogger, and a longtime friend. Her first book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, has been praised by Junot Díaz, Diana Abu-Jaber, and many others. Earlier this year, Panjak Mishra admired Hope in the NYRB, lauding Lalami’s “calm sympathy,” the “evenhandedness [that] offers us no scope . . .
Nobody holds a grudge like a Southerner, but in general I prefer to seethe offline. Where the Chinese wall between my personal grievances and my reactions to someone’s ideas or projects breaks down, I just stop talking about him or her altogether. Online, I mean. Anything’s fair game over drinks. But I’ve got to say, there’ve been noisemakers going and . . .
James Wolcott proves that an examination of the problems with today’s book criticism doesn’t have to be dead boring.
The prospect of more novels from the delightful Justine Larbalestier is one of the few consolations available to my Harry Potter-obsessed stepdaughter, A., now that the Rowling franchise has closed up shop. I don’t know what the follow-up to the Magic or Madness Trilogy will be, but recent blog posts suggest Larbalestier’s stranded in New York, working on something big. . . .