"I had hoped, as a broadcaster, to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate." -- Kurt Vonnegut, MOTHER NIGHT.
Gerald Howard
@ghoward1950.bsky.social
Retired book editor, terminal bookworm, first-time author of THE INSIDER: MALCOLM COWLEY AND THE TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. I like movies too.
And yeah, I know, the NY Post, but sometimes even they are right and on target.
Gerald Howard@ghoward1950.bsky.social · 3d agoCornell continues to get it wrong, as in its treatment of Austin Franco, notorious antisemitic student who gets a pass on a free speech basis. A "brave" stance, but what are the chances that same thing would happen if he were as outspokenly anti-Black or -immigrant or transphobic? None.
Okay, I am NOT ordering skate at any NYC restaurant any time soon. "Would you like some extra mercury and heavy metals with that?"
Gothamist@gothamist.com · 3d agoCould nature be healing? gothamist.com/arts-enterta...
Cornell continues to get it wrong, as in its treatment of Austin Franco, notorious antisemitic student who gets a pass on a free speech basis. A "brave" stance, but what are the chances that same thing would happen if he were as outspokenly anti-Black or -immigrant or transphobic? None.
S--t-eating surrender monkeys. to revive a phrase. Alas, my alma mater Cornell is part of this craven group of cowardly institutions that have bent the knee and bent over. They will be in the permanent Hall of Shame to come. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
nytimes.com
Good title for Patricia Lockwood's next novel too. Even a good cover. #patricialockwood
Julia Is Waving, Not Drowning@booktweeting.bsky.social · 3d agothe most 2026 thing to ever 2026 we know about this not going to do anything about it but slap on a sticker
Like the Reflecting Pool fiasco, this is one of those real life metaphors that is all too much on the nose.
Anne Trubek@atrubek.bsky.social · 3d agoOnly a teensy tiny fraction of books are truly rare, unique, or scarce. But the idea that people destroy the 1,921st copy of a book no one is interested in always freaks people out. They are appalled that libraries weed books, too.
He's talking about The Odyssey. Takes one to know one, eh, Ross? (The idea of taking instruction from this dope on any matter of culture, let alone on classical Greece, slays me with bitter hilarity.)
No kidding, the only extant vieo recording of the great jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown IS this clip from Soupy Sales's late-night variety show in Detroit, "SOUPY'S ON." Hippest. Kid's. Program. Host. EVER! www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iuP...
Clifford Brown - Oh, lady be good - Memories of you
YouTube video by logudorian
youtube.com
Joke Racist Dope Decries Woke Marxist Pope . . . .
Emily Herring@emilyherring.bsky.social · last yr.I'M GONNA KEEP ON DANCIN AT THE
Okay, I gave up after fifteen pages. Ponderous beyond belief, without a single trace of Mann's godlike irony. It reads like one of those novels by Gustave Aschenbach alluded to in DEATH IN VENICE that no one has ever imagined reading. On to LOTTE IN WEIMAR.
Gerald Howard@ghoward1950.bsky.social · 2mo agoMarcel who? WAR and what? Bought this 1207-page book for $17 in trade at Old Books in Hudson, NY. Felt it was time for me to make good on my Thomas Mann completist pretentions. Back to you in . . . a while with my findings.
Mister President, for your fall reading be sure to add WILL AND ATTENTION by Meghan O'Gieblyn, coming from Doubleday on October 6th. It is a spiritual classic in the making.
Barack Obama@barackobama.bsky.social · last wk.It’s that time of year again: here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed this summer. If you’ve read any good ones, let me know!
Kathy Bates? Nancy Walker? Maybe Thelma Ritter?
Tricia Lockwood@tricialockwood.bsky.social · last wk.the female bob hoskins … who is she
I have never seen emptier eyes or a more soulless, bereft expression on a person's face. There is no there there. A portrait of human vacancy.
If we had gone to complete "herd immunity," that would have meant 3, 400,000 American fatalities from covid, give or take a few thousand clearly not that important people. At what point does political stupidity become literally a criminal offense?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.Rep. Ogles: "Look, I don't want to play down the effects of the virus, but at the end of the day it had a roughly 1 percent mortality rate. We coulda gotten through this."
Finally a classical text I actually translated (parts of, really badly, in high school Latin). Maybe Christopher Nolan wants to tackle CAESAR'S 'S GALLIC WARS next? Where Helen was, there Dido shall be. I remember reading the Fitzgerald translation with real pleasure.
Levi Stahl@levistahl.bsky.social · last wk.I actually just decided last night that I’ll be writing about the Aeneid in my next newsletter.
Don't forget "Insightful": More bromides than a 1940's medicine cabinet.
Jon Adcock@jonadcock.bsky.social · last wk.Book blurbs deciphered #booksky
“In place of standardized hardboiled crime fiction, with its emphasis on formula and procedure, ‘Cool Machine’ is a sophisticated meditation on Black masculinity, aging, and unsanctioned political resistance,” writes Niela Orr about Colson Whitehead’s latest novel.
Colson Whitehead Keeps Subverting Expectations
The final book in his Harlem Trilogy is both enjoyable crime fiction and an ode to Black ingenuity.
vulture.com
Join @untappedny.bsky.social for a tour of NYC inspired by @colsonwhitehead.com's new book, COOL MACHINE. RSVP for the free event on 8/2 at 10am: www.untappedcities.com/harlem-trilo...
"The Harlem Trilogy: Cool Machine" Downtown Walking Tour
Celebrate the release of Colson Whitehead's new NYC-set novel, "Cool Machine," on a walking tour of Manhattan!
untappedcities.com
I was born in 1950 and for much of my life there were real men around, veterans of WW II like my father. They'd served honorably and proven their masculinity by their actions. They didn't talk about much, if at all, they were just men in the world and you knew it. No preening, no tattoos.
Nick Turse@nickturse.bsky.social · 2w agoHegseth believes you can measure manhood by testing testosterone, the same way he believes you can kill your way to victory on the battlefield. It’s part of a mélange of flaccid fallacies and fantasies that seem to dominate [his] worldview..." theintercept.com/2026/07/25/p...
I am far from convinced you are doing the digital humanities any kind of favor here. Cheever, Chekhov, Poe, etc., are objecting from the beyond.
Dan Sinykin@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · last wk.I gathered 191 lit mags (& slicks & pulps), 57K+ writers, 264k+ stories, a swath of credentials, only to find that Joyce Carol Oates is, when it comes to the short story, far and away the GOAT substack.com/home/post/p-...
"The trouble, Mr. Goldwyn, is that you are interested in art and I am only interested in money." -- G. B. Shaw to Samuel Goldwyn.
J.A.Tallon@tallon.bsky.social · last wk.George Bernard Shaw (with Marion Davies, Louis B Mayer and Clark Gable) - BOTD
That leftover chicken in my fridge thanks you.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.Restricted eating hours may reduce cognitive decline in older age, researchers find
Her three albums of piano pieces by Francois Couperin are the cd's I play the most. Remarkably soothing and beautiful.
Dean Frey@dean.bsky.social · last wk.Happy birthday Angela Hewitt 🎂 📷 Robbie Jack, 2015 "She has the technical ability to describe multiple intricacies with stunning clarity. Presiding over the athleticism is a lovely sense of proportion & - what would seem a contradiction - a free-spirited love of theater." - Bernard Holland
