Readings

On artists who mine their own lives to bring comfort to others, or at least make them feel like they're not alone in their pain.

Big Star assumed fame was theirs and the world let them down; Death left their music behind and the world handed it back to them, legitimized. Sometimes, the line between failure and triumph is a matter of ambition.

The word “chill” establishes the world of Tartt’s debut novel, a murder mystery that starts with death. But it falls short of describing the reader’s uncanny sense that the book knows something about her that she doesn’t.