As a regular book browser, or shelf stalker, and former employee of Community Bookstore in Brooklyn, I’ve recently watched several customers come in asking for recommendations of what to read next after finishing Italian novelist Elena Ferrante’s four-volume saga, The Neapolitan Quartet — a masterwork concerning issues of class, status, and the remarkable complexity of […]
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Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2016: Essays & Criticism
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in essays and criticism.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
How They Disappeared: A Reading List
This week, I wanted to share five more stories about what it means to disappear—either against your will or by your own volition.
Posted inFiction, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
‘Don’t You Write Anything Happy?’: Chinelo Okparanta on Learning from Public Readings
Once, I did a reading in New York where an older lady came up to me afterwards and said, “Your writing is beautiful, and there’s no doubt you’re a great writer, but I’m sorry I won’t be reading any more of that story. That was just too painful for me.” Then, a year or two […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quotes
On ‘Remaining in the Shadows’: Elena Ferrante on Anonymity and Writing
After so many years, are you still sure about your decision to remain in the shadows? “Remain in the shadows” is not an expression I like. It savors of plots, assassins. Let’s say that, fifteen years ago, I chose to publish books without having to feel obliged to make a career of being a writer. […]
Posted inFiction, First Chapters, Story
An Ode to du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca,’ by Rachel Pastan
“Sometimes a book that is wonderful and well-told and riveting is overlooked. I believe this is the case with Rachel Pastan’s Alena.”
Posted inNonfiction
Truther Love
Uncovering the dating habits of conspiracy theorists and the challenges they face.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
A Sort of Readiness: Ursula K. Le Guin
A conversation between two novelists — Choire Sicha chats with Ursula K. Le Guin.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Quotes
Errors Renewed: James Salter on Children, Futurity, and Hope
James Salter’s Light Years (1975) is a generous, intimate portrayal of a family that bends and splinters under the weight of its own differences and desires. This book exacerbated anxieties about marriage that I didn’t even know I had; thankfully, the novel’s emotional devastation is delivered in seductive, glorious prose. In the passage below, a sort […]
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story
The Girl Who Slept with God
An excerpt from Val Brelinski’s debut novel, about three daughters who’ve been raised by devout evangelical Christians in Idaho.
