31 Days of Stories 2025, Day 2: “The Real Thing” by Henry James
The story is on one level a comedy of manners; on another, it is a careful and cutting critique of capitalism.
31 Days of Stories 2025, Day 1: “The Easter Lilies” by Jane Gardam
The bare bones of Gardam's story appear minor and parochial; this belies the depth and complexity the author infuses into her tale.
All the world a stage: The roles we play in our daily lives are examined in Katie Kitamura’s enigmatic Audition
In Audition we are presented with two essentially incompatible versions of the same woman
“Anyhow, he gives large parties”: On the centenary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
In Gatsby, we find the apotheosis of Fitzgerald's novelistic voice.
“I authentically admire his legacy”: Sash Bischoff on how F. Scott Fitzgerald influenced her debut novel, Sweet Fury
"I sort of lucked into the idea that Fitzgerald should be a part of this book."
Move fast and break things: Sarah Wynn-Williams’s memoir offers a harrowing, highly personal peek behind the curtain at Meta
If there's one thing that's certain about Wynn-Williams's highly personal, often scathing narrative: it's going to make a blockbuster movie.
Freedom to Read Week 2025: Ulysses by James Joyce
Joyce's novel is now widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.
In Clay McLeod Chapman’s savage new novel, digital wellness gurus and a far-right news channel serve as linchpins for the apocalypse
Chapman's book is about as far from subtle as it's possible to get.
Hildur Knútsdóttir’s psychological horror story The Night Guest uses spare language and elision to heighten the feeling of creeping dread
Knútsdóttir places the reader in close proximity to Iðunn's psyche via an unreliable first-person narration.
Working blue: In her sophomore novel, Brittany Newell probes the limits of desire and loneliness
Newell unfolds a tale that is, in places, almost unbearably sad in its portrayal of contemporary anomie.