Essays

Walmart vs Amazon, B&N’s Nook, a Rothian tour of Newark, Lethem reads the whole of his new novel, and more.

In 1932 I was in France for the second time, and I hoped to accomplish what I had failed to do on my first visit four years earlier: an introduction to Paul Valéry.

It’s the now-standard HuffPo methodology: solicit unpaid writers to pad out their meager content, strip-mined from tabloids and gossip sites.

Remembering the National Book Award nominee.

Trying to make a living as a book reviewer, the $200 spare-parts book scanner, TriQuarterly’s future, behind the scenes at the Nobel Foundation, and more.

The best way to bolster literature in translation is to buy some, and maybe you’ll get a jump on next year’s Nobel Prize winner.

He has the surname that suggests
a contested kinship: Jefferson—

The Google Books settlement grinds onward, Amazon faces a class-action lawsuit for pushing their BookSurge POD service, great writers posthumous works raise questions, and more.

The first short story collection by the promising Uwem Akpan doesn’t so much celebrate the form as it does the success of gimmickry.

“I’m just a piece of trash from the gutter,” Jesse told me with pride. “I was born to be what I am. I come from a family of hustlers. Most people at family reunions. They talk about their kids and who got married and shit. At my family...