From a symposium on the topic of loss, which was published in the Spring 2023 issue of The Threepenny Review. The cult of loss has many enthusiastic members. And as…
From Lament for Julia, which will be published this month by New York Review Books. I did not love her at first; not for a long time. She did not…
From similes used in twentieth-century noir books and films, compiled in The Mysterious Romance of Murder, which was published last May by Cornell University Press. Impressive as an adoring moll…
From the minutes of a meeting of the Boca Raton Planning and Zoning Board held on March 2. ashley cream: Good evening. I am here as a concerned citizen and…
From a list of queries and complaints received by the New York City 311 line since 2003, released in March to commemorate its twentieth anniversary. Can you check if my…
From Orphan Bachelors, which will be published this month by Grove Press. Our father’s elder sister arrived with her husband in 1921. We called her Big Aunt. Big Uncle was…
From Easily Slip into Another World, which will be published this month by Knopf. Toward the end of July 1971, I go to see Duke Ellington with his orchestra. This…
From Ordinary Notes, which was published last month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. At Amiri Baraka’s funeral service, livestreamed from Newark Symphony Hall, a beautiful number and range of people…
From Tomás Nevinson, which will be published this month by Knopf. Translated from the Spanish. I still didn’t have all the facts—I was waiting for the full reports, which would…
From explanations given by centenarians for their longevity, followed by their ages at the time the advice was reported. Smoke fifteen cigarettes a day, 100 Drink one glass of Coors…
From a hearing held in February to discuss the bail conditions of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Prosecutors had asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to place…
From headlines given to letters published by the New York Times between 2009 and 2023. Is It OK to Marry an Amnesiac? Is It OK to Press Your Spouse to…
From interviews with former Taliban fighters conducted in Kabul and published by the Afghanistan Analysts Network in February. Translated from the Pashto. Leaving the Taliban’s friendly environment was difficult. There…
From Paved Paradise, which will be published next month by Penguin Press. Parking psychosis is a regular feature of American life. The former NFL safety T. J. Cunningham was killed…
From an undated entry in The Diaries of Franz Kafka, which was published by Schocken Books in January. Translated from the German. 1. When I think about it, I must…
From “Should Writers Talk?,” a discussion that was held in January at the University of Chicago. agnes callard: One of the reasons you give for why writers shouldn’t talk is…
From “The Agoraphobic Fantasy of Tradlife,” which was published in the Winter 2023 issue of Dissent. Love is the ultimate value, and love is under threat: That is the rumor…
From “Till One or the Other Gits Back,” which is collected in The Caterpillar Dogs and Other Early Stories, out this month from New Directions. She stood now at the…
From the abstract of “Small Penises and Fast Cars,” a study conducted by researchers at University College London. In this experiment, we manipulated what men believed about their own penis…
From similes used by the critic Dwight Garner in book reviews for the New York Times since 2017. Like frogs run over by a lawn mower Like a goose dementedly…
From assertions made by current members of Congress. Claimed to not drink alcohol, before being arrested for drunk driving Claimed to be a consultant for Dow Jones & Company because…
From a bill proposed in the Massachusetts legislature in January. The Commissioner of the Department of Correction shall establish a bone marrow and organ donation program and a bone marrow…
From descriptions of Sam Bankman-Fried included in an article written by Adam Fisher and published by Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm that invested $150 million in Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency platform…
From a new edition of Divine Days, which was published last month in the inaugural volume from Seminary Co-op Offsets, an imprint of Northwestern University Press. That evening, several gifts…
From Our Red Book, a collection of essays and interviews about menstruation, edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. The book was published in November by Simon & Schuster. rachel kauder nalebuff:…