Harper’s has an excerpt from The Lifespan of a Fact by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
-
No Notes Were Being Taken, Jim
Posted in Writing
Tagged believer, excerpt, harpers, jim fingal, john dagata
Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon
Posted in Read in 2012
Tagged belgium, crime fiction, currently reading, france, georges simenon, louise varese, marc romano, nyrb, translation
The Right Stakes
The Hechinger Report carries an essay by Eric Shieh on teaching as a profession.
There is a grave negligence, I believe, when the public gives the work of education over to bureaucratic and market forces. More than politicians and the invisible hand of markets, it is teachers working as professionals who recognize that students are not numbers to be thrown into global economic wars, but rather lives and bodies—bodies that sit in desks, that suffer, that grieve, that matter uniquely in the future we wish to create.
Posted in Education
Tagged eric shieh, hechinger report, teaching, usa
Isle of the Dead by Gerhard Meier
Recommended with reservations.
Posted in Read in 2012
Tagged burton pike, dalkey archive press, gerhard meier, novella, recommended with reservations, switzerland, translation
The Syphilis Sores of the Recently Unemployed
At The Morning News Patrick Coleman offers tips for those re-entering the workforce.
Posted in Reading
Tagged humor, patrick coleman, the morning news, usa
Unacceptable for Polite Conversation
The Atlantic has Alyssa Rosenberg’s interview with Lionel Shriver.
So is deciding to have a child ultimately an irrational decision?
I was keen to include the period of time when they were trying to decide whether to have a child. You’re entirely right. You go through these rational set of pros and cons. And that kind of cost-benefit analysis doesn’t get you anywhere. It is this huge leap of faith. You have no idea what’s going to happen. You have no idea who’s going to walk into your life….Rationally, it’s amazing that now that we have birth control, anyone has kids…The stigma against childlessness, now that the norm has changed considerably, has lifted. I don’t feel discriminated against because I don’t have children, and I don’t think people feel sorry for me. It’s the safer option. So I’m in awe of the number of parents who voluntarily continue the human race. Good for them.
Posted in Writing
Tagged alyssa rosenberg, atlantic monthly, interview, lionel shriver
Some Kind of Secret
So who is the man behind what may well come to be seen as the defining novel of credit-crunch Britain (as if producing one of the best financial books of recent years weren’t enough)? What enables him to be so versatile?
In the Observer, William Skidelsky profiles John Lanchester.
Posted in Writing
Tagged john lanchester, observer, profile, uk, william skidelsky
Humor as Both Sword and Shield
At National Public Radio, Heller McAlpin reviews Shalom Auslander’s Hope: A Tragedy.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, heller mcalpin, npr, shalom auslander