There Won't Be Any Covid Novels
Despite the desires of some readers, nobody should expect any good novels about Covid.
The Guilt of the Innocent
He will forever have grand plans for the world, and the world will forever disappoint him with its failures.
A Distortion of Fact
Most contemporary non-fiction books take three hundred pages to tell a one hundred page story.
A Cold Wind
And now we’ve reached the time of year when the weather acts like a jester, teasing us with hints of sun on still chilly days.
All Those Fanatical Writers
To decide to write isn’t also to decide that you’ll be the most loathsome dinner guest.
The Correspondents
Understanding what triggers the desire to rush toward and cover a crisis isn’t an easy task.
Ian McEwan: Against The Novel of Validation
What the reader feels and thinks and has already experienced is what the novel of validation delivers.
The Problem With Contemporary Writing
To care about the state and quality of writing today is to scream into a void while knowing that the void does nothing but laugh.
The Real You
Somewhere in the black and white portion of my mind is a memory that I occasionally question.
A Change of Persona
In the opening of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, we hear a line with a bit of context underneath its wit.
Mark Twain’s White Fence
The most famous white fence in literature requires a new bookshelf.
Where is Afghanistan?
For an unforgettable account of foreign reporting, we need to jump back nearly a century.