A quick roundup of what I’ve been enjoying that’s new or possibly old and simply new to me these past few months. Everything listed here I recommend unequivocally, or will have further thoughts on later. There will be more things coming over the next several months but for now here’s a classic list.
If you haven’t seen or haven’t read, I was in The Baffler last month reviewing Joanna Wuest’s Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, & Inequality. Wuest’s book is incredibly interesting both as history and political theory. The book is a worthwhile read and I hope you’ll check out my essay if you haven’t already.
Reading:
Moving Kings by Joshua Cohen
On Beauty & Being Just by Elaine Scarry
The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud (Penguin Collection)
SALMON by Sebastian Castillo
The Art of Time in Fiction by Joan Silber
The Visiting Privilege by Joy Williams
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
Watching:
Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Fallen Leaves (dir. Ari Kaurismaki)
Minority Report (dir. Steven Spielberg)
Videodrome (dir. David Cronenberg)
Female Trouble (dir. John Waters)
Other Things I Liked:
“Four Men” by William T. Vollmann
Recently let go by Viking over some dispute about fonts in his latest novel, Vollmann writes about homelessness in Reno and the death of his daughter, who was homeless.
“Critical Cul-de-Sac” by Jarek Ervin
A patient but pointed discussion of the state of film criticism and the ways in which ideas of justice politics has infected much of the discourse around art.
“On how your work changes as you get older,” an interview with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto
Love him. This from 2021 is a good and interesting interview.
“What Was Literary Fiction?” by Dan Sinykin
Interesting essay that compresses much of a book about the history of the term “literary fiction” and its attendant nuances, difficulties, and legacies.