In 1944, in a fit of passion, my grandfather wrote out a will leaving everything to my mother, his only child. When he died a successful real estate broker in 1970, though, his plans were a little different.
Tayari Jones’ The Untelling is a book I’m always giving to people. I’ve pressed it on my in-laws, hair stylist, friends bookish and not, and now there’s a growing band of us waiting for her next novel. Although I’ve met Jones only once, when we read together back in 2005, I feel like she’s an old friend — mostly because . . .
Ted Conover, author of New Jack: Guarding Sing Sing, tells Dwight Garner what he’s working on now.
Josh Benton’s dream come true: the smell of library stacks in a bottle. Elsewhere: Poe-themed scents? (Thanks, Steph.)
I couldn’t tell what the kids across the aisle were laughing at on the subway the other night, until I remembered that the cover is affixed upside-down to my copy of Angela Carter’s Wise Children. I must have looked like a madwoman, hiding behind it, reading so intently. In honor of the forthcoming Wise Children reissue, and while we’re on . . .