Critical Notes

Roundup: Marlon James, Marilynne Robinson, Eimear McBride, Brian Morton and more

By Eric Liebetrau

Your reviews seed this roundup; please send items to NBCCCritics@gmail.com. Make sure to send links that do not require a subscription or username and password.

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“Why Do I Still Have a Paper Shredder?” asks Robert Birnbaum. He also takes a look at Martin Scorsese’s HBO documentary, “The Fifty Year Argument.”

Laurie Hertzel interviews James McBride.

In the Charleston Post and Courier, Bill Thompson reviews Mark Edmundson's “Why Football Matters.”

John Domini reviews “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” by Marlon James.

Maureen Corrigan reviews Brian Morton's “Florence Gordon.”

Lisa R. Spaar on “The Outlaw Stylings of Brock-Broido, Cushman, and Wright.”

NBCC board member Mark Athitakis examines the “best of literary magazines in three new collections.”

Marthine Satris reviews Eimear McBride's “A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing.”

Erika Dreifus interviews Sara Lippmann, author of the new short-story collection “Doll Palace.”

NBCC board member Steven G. Kellman reviews “There Must Be Some Mistake,” by Frederick Barthelme.

Daniel Dyer reviews Colm Toibin's latest novel.

New member Angie Jabine reviews Marilynne Robinson's “Lila.”

NBCC board member Karen R. Long reviews “On Immunity: An Inoculation” by Eula Biss, recipient of the NBCC Award in Criticism in 2010.

2013 Balakian winner Katherine A. Powers reviews Colm Toibin's “Nora Webster” for the Chicago Tribune's Printers Row. She also reviews Marlon James' “A Brief History of Seven Killings” for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Randy Rosenthal just published the second issue of Tweed's Magazine of Literature & Art, which features interviews with Reza Aslan, Siri Hustvedt, and Amy Grace Loyd, essays by Lydia Davis and Lipika Pelham, and poetry by C.K. Williams. Rosenthal also interviews Argentinian-Spanish author Andrés Neuman about his latest book to be translated into English, Talking to Ourselves, on the Tweed's Book Blog.

Eileen Weiner reviews Maureen Corrigan's “So We Read On.”