Critical Notes

Monday Roundup: 2 weeks in one, 8/5 and 8/12

By Eric Liebetrau

In the New York Journal of Books, George De Stefano reviews Thomas Glave's Among the Bloodpeople.

Julia M. Klein reviews Christine Montross's Falling into the Fire for the Boston Globe.

In the New York TimesNatalie Bakopoulos reviews Joan Silber's Fools. She also reviews Alexander Maksik's A Marker to Measure Drift for the San Francisco Chronicle.

LISTEN: Ruth Franklin on the strange fictions of Shirley Jackson.

David Haglund on Reza Aslan and “Our Divided Nation in One Set of Amazon Reviews.” WATCH: Haglund presents the latest Book Reader. He also reviews Javier Marías' The Infatuations.

Roxana Robinson's Sparta, reviewed in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

In the New Republic, Adam Kirsch examines Reza Aslan's controversial new biography of Jesus.

Ron Charles on Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon.

“Reader, beware: This is not a romance. Nate's primary relationship is with himself.” Clea Simon reviews Adelle Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. She also explores a recent SF/F brouhaha for The Arts Fuse.

Joanna Scutts reviews Anthony Pagden's The Enlightenment, and Why It Still Matters for the Washington Post.

The Story About Ping and the invention of nostalgia.” NBCC board member David L. Ulin on how nostalgia may be “not a by-product of memory but of the lack of memory, a longing stirred by what eludes us even more.”

Marion Winik reviews Adelle Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. and Gabriel Roth's The Unknowns in Newsday. She also reviews A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife.

“The Suffering of Others: On Adrienne Rich,” by Cynthia Haven in the Virginia Quarterly Review.

David Duhr reviews David Gilbert's & Sons for the Dallas Morning News.

NBCC board member Carolyn Kellogg reviews Toby Barlow's Babayaga.

For the Chicago Tribune, Hope Reese reviews Lindsay Hunter's Don't Kiss Me. In the Atlantic, she interviews Christine Montross about her book Falling into the Fire.

In responding to Mark Edmundson’s “Poetry Slam: Or, The Decline of American Verse,” Michael Leong reviews new books by Rachel Levitsky and Andrew Zawacki for Hyperallergic.

Joe Peschel reviews Paul Yoon's Snow Hunters in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

My Daughter, Myself follows in the footsteps of other gifted writers who’ve worked through their anguish as parents doing what they do best professionally. A Seattle Times review of Linda Wolfe's inspirational memoir.

Current NBCC board member Gregg Barrios and former NBCC board member David Kipen selected as new Getty Fellows.

Michael Lindgren takes a look at two new books from literary critic Terry Eagleton. Lindgren also examines four new books on how to fix higher education.

In Newsday, NBCC board member Mark Athitakis reviews Caleb Crain's debut novel, Necessary Errors.

 

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Your reviews seed this roundup, please send items to NBCCCritics@gmail.com.