Our new issue is now online, featuring Fredric Jameson on Ben Pastor, @LalehKhalili on oil, money and democracy, John Lanchester on Wirecard, Andrew O’Hagan on Dolly Parton, @davies_will on the seductions of declinism and a cover by Alexander Gorlizki: http://lrb.co.uk
The TLS (Times Literary Supplement) for July 29, 2022 – @TheTLS, featuring @billmckibben on the future of farming; Bart van Es on Shakespeare’s life and sources; @profrhodrilewis on the sixteenth-century mind; @soniafaleiro on Geetanjali Shree; @mary_leng on straw men – and more.
Today’s episode features two books that reach deep into the animal world. First, E.O. Wilson sits down with Robert Seigel to discuss how the narrative of war is used in his story featuring ants, called Anthill.
Then writer Ed Yong talks with Ayesha Roscoe about trying to show the experience of life through a different perspective – animals – in An Immense World.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
Read by: Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi
Length: 13 hrs, 52 mins.
Speed I listened: 1.7x–1.8x
I haven’t savored listening to a book in recent memory quite as much as I did this novel. It’s about two friends — Sadie Green and Sam Masur — who meet as kids in Los Angeles and then reconnect at MIT, where they begin developing experimental video games together. The lead characters (and let’s throw in the supporting ones too) are at times completely relatable, at times bittersweet, and almost always completely heartwarming. The book is mostly read by Kim except for a short fever dream by Cihi. Kim’s delivery might be monotone in places, but I found it steady, deliberate, and clear, so I didn’t have to miss a moment.
The Church of Baseball, by Ron Shelton
Read by: The author
Length: 8 hrs, 12 mins.
Speed I listened: 1.75x
Does there have to be a book about the making of 1988’s Bull Durham? Probably not. Did I get a kick out of this trip down memory lane with the movie’s writer-director? I did. It’s rare you get a glimpse into the making of a Hollywood movie in minute detail, and this one’s pretty soup to nuts, down to Shelton hiring the on-set script supervisor. These kind of books always start and end with the idea that everyone in Hollywood is crazy, and it’s good to be reminded of that. To that end, here, Kevin Costner’s agents tried to prevent him from starring as Minor League Baseball star Crash Davis, which turned out to be one of his most iconic roles. Shelton has a knowing but aw-shucks vibe that makes great company even if his performance of dialogue scenes from the original script could use more oomph.
Hollywood Ending, by Ken Auletta
Read by: Jonathan Coleman
Length: 19 hrs, 41 mins
Speed I listened: 2x
A darker addition to July’s “Hollywood Is Crazy Files” is this gripping account of Harvey Weinstein’s rise to and fall from power. You’re probably familiar with many of the sordid details in this book, and at 20 hours, it isn’t short. Still, I couldn’t turn off this compendium of the disgraced movie producer’s unbelievable behavior, from his rampant spending on hotel rooms to his truly despicable treatment of so many women. Auletta’s reporting is mostly firsthand, and hearing it cumulatively is jaw-dropping. As the narrator, Coleman is deadpan and direct enough to sometimes make you forget you aren’t listening to an actual thriller. Also kudos to the drippingly ironic title.
The Times Literary Supplement (TheTLS) featuring @ambermedland on Jean Rhys; @joemoransblog on Britain’s housing inequality; @maryanneclark60 on the first true-crime play; @colincraiggrant on In the Black Fantastic; @bjkingape on the science of dogs – and more.
Our new issue is now online, featuring 29 responses to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Barbara Newman on medieval sanctuary, @moonjets on Shelley, Mimi Jiang on the end of Shanghai’s lockdown and @mmschwartz on the Bataclan verdict. https://lrb.co.uk
This week’s TLS, featuring @profbate on Arcadia in art and literature; @philipcball on Peter Higgs; @anelsona on philanthropy and inequality; @billmckibben on our climate turning point; @jamesamarcus on Emerson and Thoreau; @ScurrRuth on open-air painting – and more.
This week’s @TheTLS , featuring @Godwin_lives on Shelley’s unfinished poems; @devoneylooser on Charles Austen and the slave trade; @jeres on the life of a plongeur; @Mika_R_S on Anna Wintour; @RozKaveney on Samuel R. Delany; @nheller on the Buddha’s tooth – and more.
@TheTLS – July 1, 2022. Featuring Kenneth Rogoff on inflation; @KuperSimon on the Tour de France; @natsegnit on the ultrawealthy; Terry Eagleton on Geoff Dyer; @amyhawk_ on Hong Kong; @scheffer_pablo on climate change in medieval literature – and more.
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