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The market will not lie or cheat you

Jasper Merian, a protagonist of Calvin Baker’s Dominion, worries over choosing names. Given his tendency to utter pronouncements like “I would have named my own house Colonus… But I thought by now they surely must have heard of that place. I called it Stonehouses instead, in hopes it might keep them off us awhile,” you might even say he’s superstitious . . .

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As of This Writing

TEV points to a compendium of Clive James links, courtesy of James himself, and recommends As of This Writing.

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That kind of day

You have five minutes to kill yourself — with common office supplies — in advance of a staff meeting. (Many thanks, Jessa.)

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On A.M. Homes’ The Mistress’ Daughter

A.M. Homes’ January 2005 New Yorker essay on meeting her biological parents for the first time while in her early thirties is a fine piece of writing — absurd, disturbing, and adamantly unsentimental. In a waiting room, as she watches her father turn in paperwork for the blood test she’s agreed to undergo, she notices “that his butt looks familiar; . . .

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