The middle class is shrinking. As the Internet has wildly expanded our options, it has, paradoxically, shrunk our horizons: as thinkers like Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform, warn, a generic set of crowd-pleasing blockbusters dominates more than ever.
Books
The Latest
The tragicomic novelist—now memoirist—talks about his father’s harrowing upbringing, the value of asthma, modern threats to reading culture, and what he really thinks of Canadian writers.
Remembering one of the masters of the modern short story, who died today at the age of 91. The author recounts the lessons he learned from his all too brief run-ins with the expatriate Canadian writer.
The ongoing conversation about whether protagonists ought to be likeable reveals how shallow the quality is in the first place.
There’s a very important difference between Young Adult books and books featuring young adults; just compare Tamara Faith Berger’s Maidenhead to Judy Blume’s Forever. But what that difference is, exactly, confounds booksellers, readers, and publishers alike.
Romance is a fool’s errand—the American writer knew this well, and it was reflected in her novels. With her birthday falling tomorrow, our correspondent proposes Wharton, who had a “special expertise in loneliness,” as the patron saint of the loneliest month.
The Internet may have battered book sales, but it hasn’t killed reading—far from it. Today we read more, and in more ways, than ever, and this is thanks to all the book-killing culprits.
Most Popular
