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Maris Kreizman's Best of Books of 2026 So Far
1+ day, 16+ hour ago (135+ words) I'm no fool. I know that lists are not the most intellectually rigorous form of book criticism but I also know they get lots of clicks. And given that I spend a great deal of time in this column griping…...
The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Nonfiction
9+ hour, 40+ min ago (46+ words) Literary Hub Here are this week's Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for nonfiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus....
5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week
9+ hour, 41+ min ago (337+ words) Our flock of fabulous reviews this week includes Scaachi Khol on Jill Biden's View From the East Wing, Lincoln Michel on Deb Olin Unferth's Earth 7, Michael Faber on M. John Harrison's The End of Everything, William T. Vollmann on James Ellroy's Red…...
Ben Fountain on Rasputin and Trump's Coming Third Term
16+ hour, 9+ min ago (191+ words) Rasputin Swims the Potomac "Devil Makes Three "Beautiful Country Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion, and Revolution "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk "Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH BEN FOUNTAIN WT: I don't know how this was…...
Retracing the Steps of Sylvia Plath in Paris (and Rome, and Cape Cod, and Wellesley)
2+ day, 10+ hour ago (187+ words) Perhaps what she really loved was transit itself: stimulation, novelty, the heady potential of change. And so I resolved to make as many journeys as possible in Plath's footsteps'preferably at the exact time of year she took them'so I could…...
Our Damage Doesn't Define Us." What We Owe to the Natural World and Each Other
2+ day, 10+ hour ago (221+ words) After that day, my ex became abusive. Eventually, I was left stranded in a rural house with no money, food, or heat, watching in shock as the light from the windows moved across the floor, stretched, and then drew back....
Literary Hub " The Man Who Killed the Last Eastern Elk in America'And Was Proud of It
1+ day, 2+ hour ago (338+ words) It's difficult to say with certainty when the last eastern elk was killed, but most accounts agree that Jim Jacobs pulled the trigger. But by the 1860s, the elk were scarce. In fact, Pennsylvanians began to wonder if they weren't extinct…...
An "Intellectual Monster" Why Muriel Spark Never Married
2+ day, 10+ hour ago (375+ words) But now Spark snaps into focus. Setting down her drink, she leans forward in her chair. She smooths her blouse, and straightens the feather quill brooch pinned to the lapel of her jacket. She is ready to make herself clear....
Dave Eggers on Writing a Sprawling Novel of Art and Artists
2+ day, 10+ hour ago (584+ words) (Wait! Wait! "You're giving away all the surprise locations!" Eggers objects: "Now people will know about the Phuket chapter, which is the big reveal for people who love tacky islands full of sunburned Scandinavian men. Sorry! No more spoilers!) Olympia…...
What's in a Book's Name? One Writer's Journey to Finding the Perfect Title
2+ day, 10+ hour ago (305+ words) It soon became clear that the problems with finding the perfect title mirrored the problems of putting a book about religion out in the American marketplace to begin with. That is: readers come to the subject pre-divided. Not only did…...