Books

book excerpt

‘You Don’t Understand What This Is Doing to Me’

 In the age of anti-heroes Tony Soprano reigned supreme. In his new book James Andrew Miller explores the toll the character took on James Gandolfini. By James Andrew Miller
double consciousnesses

The Fiction of the Color Line

 From Nella Larsen to Mariah Carey, Black women writers have long used passing stories to crack our façades of race, class, and gender. By Brittany Luse
book review

Fear and Loathing in ‘Asian America’

 In The Loneliest Americans, Jay Caspian Kang tries but fails to restore meaning to an empty term. By Madeline Leung Coleman
  1. vulture lists
    8 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This MonthKatie Couric, Sutton Foster, Stanley Tucci, and more.
    By Marshall Heyman
  2. art du jour
    David Byrne’s New Book Is (Nothing But) DingbatsIllustrated dingbats, that is.
    By Devon Ivie
  3. the view from outside
    Meghan McCain Felt ‘Slapped’ When Joy Behar Said She Didn’t Miss Her on The ViewAnd she “no longer felt safe working at The View” afterward.
    By Justin Curto
  4. book excerpt
    ‘You Don’t Understand What This Is Doing to Me’In the age of anti-heroes Tony Soprano reigned supreme. In his new book James Andrew Miller explores the toll the character took on James Gandolfini.
    By James Andrew Miller
  5. double consciousnesses
    The Fiction of the Color LineFrom Nella Larsen to Mariah Carey, Black women writers have long used passing stories to crack our façades of race, class, and gender.
    By Brittany Luse
  7. book review
    Fear and Loathing in ‘Asian America’In The Loneliest Americans, Jay Caspian Kang tries but fails to restore meaning to an empty term.
    By Madeline Leung Coleman
  8. his favorite shapes
    Julio Torres Wrote a Children’s Book About a Plunger That Wants to Be a Vase“Because, well, why not?” he said.
    By Justin Curto
  9. the industry
    Sally Rooney Won’t Let Israel-Based Publisher Translate Her Latest BookShe said she welcomes a translation of Beautiful World, Where Are You that aligns with her boycott of Israel.
    By Justin Curto
  10. best of 2021
    The Best Books of the Year (So Far)Including bangers from Colson Whitehead, Lauren Groff, and Alexandra Kleeman.
    By Hillary Kelly
  11. reading is fundamental
    Hey Grimes! Other Celebrities Read Too, Ya KnowNo one will ever beat Bradley Cooper reading Lolita to his 21-year-old girlfriend.
    By Bethy Squires
  12. book review
    A So-So Franzen Novel Is Still Better Than Most Books. That Said …In Crossroads, too many boring characters are boring in the same way.
    By Molly Young
  13. a long talk
    Jonathan Franzen Thinks People Can ChangeEven if, as his book Crossroads suggests, it’s nearly impossible to make it stick.
    By Merve Emre
  14. awards
    Hanif Abdurraqib Is One of This Year’s MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant RecipientsAlong with Ibram X. Kendi, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Don Mee Choi, and more.
    By Zoe Haylock
  15. the music man
    A Trump Aide Would Play ‘Memory’ When He Needed to Calm DownYes, the Cats song.
    By Justin Curto
  16. vulture lists
    7 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This MonthGabrielle Union, Liane Moriarty, and more.
    By Marshall Heyman
  17. book excerpt
    Phoebe Robinson’s Guide to Being a BossAn excerpt from the comedian’s new book.
    By Phoebe Robinson
  18. awards
    Katie Kitamura, Lauren Groff on National Book Award for Fiction LonglistPlus three debut novels.
    By Justin Curto
  19. book review
    The Magician Resists the Shallow Gestures of the Hollywood BiopicColm Tóibín’s new novel about Thomas Mann reaches for depths in its subject that mainstream film wouldn’t bother with.
    By Rumaan Alam
  20. profile
    Hearing Things With Ruth OzekiHer latest novel teems with voices — most of them belonging to what she might call “nonhuman persons.”
    By Helen Shaw
  21. books
    Patricia Lockwood Makes the 2021 Booker Prize ShortlistNo One Is Talking About This is up against works by Damon Galgut, Maggie Shipstead, and more.
    By Zoe Haylock
  22. read like the wind
    Matrix and 9 Other Reads I Can’t Get Out of My HeadEnjoy tales of angsty Irish lovers, computer repair, and radical nuns.
    By Molly Young
  23. best of 2021
    The Best Romance Novels of 2021 (So Far)Featuring enemies-to-lovers, office romances, and — of course — lots of Happily Ever Afters.
    By Carly Lane
  24. one grand books
    Michaela Coel’s 10 Favorite BooksBreakfast of Champions, Society Within, The Book of Eels, and more.
    By Michaela Coel
  25. book review
    You’ve Heard This One BeforeMaggie Nelson believes we react too quickly and think ungenerously. In her new book, she’s guilty of both.
    By Andrea Long Chu
  26. book review
    Sally Rooney in the StruggleBeautiful World, Where Are You is both her clearest attempt to wrestle with big ideas and her least readable novel.
    By Jane Hu
  27. well read
    Close Reading the Reads of The ChairFrom Chaucer to The Family of Man, every book in the Netflix series tells its own story.
    By Roxanne Fequiere
  28. fall preview 2021
    The Party Girl’s RevengeMarlowe Granados’s debut novel, Happy Hour, is a picaresque for the glamorous and broke.
    By Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz
  29. fall preview 2021
    Knausgaard Debarks for a New Frontier: Genre FictionNorway’s most famous self-exile talks to Torrey Peters about his horror-inspired novel The Morning Star.
    By Torrey Peters
  30. fall preview 2021
    40 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This FallIncluding Sally Rooney, Colson Whitehead, Tiphanie Yanique, and, yes, Jonathan Franzen.
  31. book excerpt
    ‘Never Call Me Your Drummer Again’The full story of the time Charlie Watts punched Mick Jagger, excerpted from Sympathy for the Drummer.
    By Mike Edison
  32. vulture lists
    7 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This MonthStephen King, Sarah Ferguson, Andrea Bartz, and more.
    By Marshall Heyman
  33. fact vs fiction
    What Do Fiction Writers Owe Their IRL Inspiration?Cat Person and Stillwater constantly betray their main characters. It’s what makes them interesting.
    By Alice Bolin
  34. books
    The Spine CollectorFor five years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? A trap? Or a complete waste of time?
    By Reeves Wiedeman
  35. literature
    Dolly Parton Is Writing Her First Novel Run, Rose, Run With James PattersonAnd it comes with a companion album, y’all.
    By Zoe Haylock
  36. bad monkey
    Bill Lawrence’s Ted Lasso Follow-up Is a Show About Vince Vaughn in FloridaBad Monkey is based on Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel, and you better believe there’s an actual monkey in it.
    By Rebecca Alter
  37. chat room
    Cecily Strong Feels Good Whether or Not She Returns to SNL“I would love to go back; I would also love to have that be my end.”
    By Rebecca Alter
  38. The Best Comedy Books of 2021 (So Far)Featuring a history of the Twin Cities comedy scene and Quinta Brunson’s debut.
    By Brian Boone
  39. read like the wind
    The Listening House and 9 Other Reads I Can’t Get Out of My HeadBuoy yourself through the dog days with tales of intrigue and minutiae.
    By Molly Young
  40. tv development
    Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor in Development at HBO MaxThe Underground Railroad effect.
    By Zoe Haylock
  41. scary stories
    Netflix’s Cinematic, Blood-Soaked Fear Street ExperimentHow a horror trilogy meant for theaters survived the pandemic-era streaming shake-up.
    By Isaac Feldberg
  42. book review
    Magma Lucidly Captures the Magical Thinking of a Coercive RelationshipWe see a young woman increasingly substituting an abuser’s logic for her own, and we see the ways that such a substitution damages her.
    By Brandon Taylor
  43. memoirs
    Mel Brooks Wrote a Memoir at 95All About Me: My Remarkable Life in Show Business is out November 30.
    By Rebecca Alter
  44. profile
    Anthony Veasna So Knew He Was a StarWhen the author died at 28, he was on the cusp of literary fame. Everyone remembers him differently.
    By E. Alex Jung
  45. book review
    Alexandra Kleeman Writes a Neo-Noir About an Even Thirstier HollywoodIn her novel Something New Under the Sun, Alexandra Kleeman writes a water war as disturbing as it is absurd.
    By Jennifer Wilson
  46. booker prize
    Booker Prize Announces 2021 LonglistSee the full longlist here.
    By Cydney Lee
  47. underrated
    Revisiting Adam Resnick’s Brilliant 2014 Memoir With Tom Scharpling“It’s just the funniest book I’ve ever read.”
    By Ian Goldstein
  48. trailer mix
    Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen Are Turning Their Libcast Into LiblitThe news arrived alongside a trailer showing Obama test-driving one of Springsteen’s convertibles.
    By Justin Curto
  49. vulture lists
    7 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This MonthDanny Trejo, Maggie Smith, Quentin Tarantino, and more.
    By Marshall Heyman
  50. keeping up with the ex-royals
    God Save the Queen After She Finds Out About Prince Harry’s Tell-All Memoir“I’m writing this not as the prince but as the man I have become.”
    By Devon Ivie
  51. movie review
    Maybe Netflix’s Fear Street Should Have Just Been a TV ShowThe delightfully nasty Fear Street exists in this strange space between movies and television, serving neither format well.
    By Alison Willmore
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