Readings

Things That Ordinary People Wouldn't Do: To Die For at 20

Gus Van Sant's 1995 adaptation of Joyce Maynard's novel revolved around self-control under observation. Two decades later, it feels both prescient and all the more relevant.

'Okay is Nowhere Near Being Alive': An Interview with Edmund de Waal

Speaking with the ceramicist and author of The White Road about how his work in writing and art influence and inform each other, bringing historical figures to life, and how to leave space in a book.

Footnotes to a Murder

The 1943 killing of a Manhattan heiress led to a demonizing public conversation on homosexuality. A decade later, a true crime book obfuscated the sexual details.

'I Walk in the City All the Time': An Interview with Orhan Pamuk

Talking with the author of A Strangeness in My Mind about writing about food and eating, urban exploration, and bringing the humanity of background characters to the fore.

Theological Scars

My loss of God occurred soon after I got to divinity school. I still can't decide if that was the least likely of places for it to happen or the only place in the world where it was possible.

Lucky Jim Bond: Inside Kingsley Amis's Quietly Subversive 007

The spy's relationship with the villain Colonel Sun veered from tradition: absent a manufactured fatal love triangle, Amis examined the toxic, unsatisfying power dynamics between like minds.

Speed Trials: Finishing Video Games As Fast As Possible, For Fun and Profit

Talking to a member of the video game speedrunning community about the appeal of the practice, its status as a sort of performance art, and tensions over encroaching commercialization.

'I Don't Envision an End Like I Don't Envision a Beginning': An Interview with Mercer Mayer

The author of more than 300 children's books on spending a lifetime with a single character, the process necessary to produce three books a year, and talking to kids about death.

Ring Leaders: Inside the League of Lady Wrestlers

How a Yukon art project became a national phenomenon of sold-out shows, dream selves and subversive sexuality. 

A User's Guide to John Irving

When women can't speak up, a chorus of voices should rise to their aid, though that often seems like too much to hope for. John Irving understands this in a way most male writers don't or can't.