Critical Notes

NBCC board member and Critical Mass blogger Scott McLemee on “All the Sad Young Men”. NBCC board member Art Winslow on Christopher Benfey’s “A Summer of Hummingbirds.” NBCC board member

NBCC board member Maureen McLane’s three-part take on August Kleinholzer’s “Sleeping it Off in Rapid City.” NBCC member Kathryn Harrison reviews “Mad, Bad, and Sad” for the New York Times

Sunday Styles has a profile of the novelist and Martin Amis-attached Isabel Fonseca, heralding the publication of her novel Attachment. While on staff at the Times Literary Supplement, Fonseca apparently

The line to get a seat at the April 11 symposiums celebrating Philip Roth’s 75th birthday snaked a block up Broadway at Columbia University’s Miller Theater. NBCC member Bob Hoover

NBCC board member Kevin Prufer’s new book, “National Anthem,” well reviewed by Robert C. Jones here. In honor of Robert Hass’s Pulitzer earlier this month, The Atlantic has gone back

Maryanne Wolf explains the magic, mystery, and pathology behind reading and says the whole thing isn’t terribly natural. Neither is writing—especially if you’re Phillip Parker, author of 200,000 books. Also: 

Our very own Lizzie Skurnick has put out a call for folks to “find the best word or phrase to describe when a reviewer commences with a personal anecdote, generally

NBCC president John Freeman looks at “The Death of the Critic” and concludes that “that eye-catching but perhaps overstated title is a bit of a misnomer.” He’s also been on