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Nov 5, 2025
I have written about many fiction journals over the last few months. I’ve written about Esquire, where Gordon Lish began his process of reshaping Raymond Carver’s...
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Oct 29, 2025
Ernest Hemingway was the most important and influential 20th-century American fiction writer. He is our Kafka, our Proust, our Borges, our Joyce, our Premchand, our Hamsun, our Lu...
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Sep 24, 2025
One of my character flaws is that I enjoy a well-written 'problem' novel. These are books whose aim is to persuade you to take a side on some particular social issue.
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Sep 17, 2025
After reading all these Westerns, I figured that I ought to read Lonesome Dove, because it’s the most famous Western. This book won the Pulitzer in 1986, but that's not...
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Sep 10, 2025
Dan Sinykin's 2023 book, Big Fiction, is an account of the structural changes in the publishing industry between 1960 and 2000. Essentially, publishing companies started to buy...
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Sep 4, 2025
From the ages of ten to twenty-two, I exclusively read science-fiction and fantasy novels. And these novels are almost always about exceptional people whose talents are, for whatever...
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Jun 18, 2025
If a college student is interested in learning how to write fiction, they will often take a class called "Intro to Fiction" or "Intro to Creative Writing".
In this class they will...
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Jun 11, 2025
Recently I hung out for a few hours with one of my readers: Arjun.
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May 12, 2025
When I was first trying to write professionally, I had a very simple understanding of genre. I was writing science fiction and fantasy novels, and these books had their own section...
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May 9, 2025
I met Ross Barkan in the summer of 2024, when he quite unexpectedly came to my talk at the World Transsexual Forum. He had read my novel, The Default World, and he was a...
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May 6, 2025
One of the hot books of 2014 was a novel by Jenny Offill called Dept of Speculation. This was one of those wikipedia realism books that interspersed little factoids (in...
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Apr 30, 2025
Hawthorne is the 19th-century American writer that I like the most. I've always known this. When I read The Blithedale Romance twelve years ago, I absolutely adored...
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Apr 23, 2025
Closely allied to the question of taste is the question of genius. Taste is the ability to appreciate works of genius. But what is genius?
Most people would agree that someone who...
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Apr 1, 2025
Naomi Kanakia and I discuss whether anti-woke is passé in a time of Trump unleashed
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Mar 19, 2025
There is a large contingent of people in America who occasionally read classic literature for fun. I debated a bit with my followers on Notes about the exact size of this contingent,...
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Mar 12, 2025
What if Uncle Tom's Cabin is a better novel than Huckleberry Finn?
This might seem absurd, but surely it merits at least a little thought. Uncle Tom's...
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Feb 26, 2025
According to my records, I read Moby-Dick for the first time in April of 2010. My journey into the book started off quite well. Like most readers, I was surprised by the...
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Jan 28, 2025
On Percival Everett's James
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Jan 15, 2025
Since this is a Great Books blog, I assume you’re all extremely interested in my opinions about which publishers of reprinted classics are actually good.
I’ve divided...
Nov 5, 2025I have written about many fiction journals over the last few months. I’ve written about Esquire, where Gordon Lish began his process of reshaping Raymond Carver’s...
Oct 29, 2025Ernest Hemingway was the most important and influential 20th-century American fiction writer. He is our Kafka, our Proust, our Borges, our Joyce, our Premchand, our Hamsun, our Lu...
Sep 24, 2025One of my character flaws is that I enjoy a well-written 'problem' novel. These are books whose aim is to persuade you to take a side on some particular social issue.
Sep 17, 2025After reading all these Westerns, I figured that I ought to read Lonesome Dove, because it’s the most famous Western. This book won the Pulitzer in 1986, but that's not...
Sep 10, 2025Dan Sinykin's 2023 book, Big Fiction, is an account of the structural changes in the publishing industry between 1960 and 2000. Essentially, publishing companies started to buy...
Sep 4, 2025From the ages of ten to twenty-two, I exclusively read science-fiction and fantasy novels. And these novels are almost always about exceptional people whose talents are, for whatever...
Jun 18, 2025If a college student is interested in learning how to write fiction, they will often take a class called "Intro to Fiction" or "Intro to Creative Writing". In this class they will...
Jun 11, 2025Recently I hung out for a few hours with one of my readers: Arjun.
Apr 30, 2025Hawthorne is the 19th-century American writer that I like the most. I've always known this. When I read The Blithedale Romance twelve years ago, I absolutely adored...
Mar 19, 2025There is a large contingent of people in America who occasionally read classic literature for fun. I debated a bit with my followers on Notes about the exact size of this contingent,...
Mar 12, 2025What if Uncle Tom's Cabin is a better novel than Huckleberry Finn? This might seem absurd, but surely it merits at least a little thought. Uncle Tom's...
Feb 26, 2025According to my records, I read Moby-Dick for the first time in April of 2010. My journey into the book started off quite well. Like most readers, I was surprised by the...
Jan 28, 2025On Percival Everett's James
Jan 15, 2025Since this is a Great Books blog, I assume you’re all extremely interested in my opinions about which publishers of reprinted classics are actually good. I’ve divided...