Los Angeles Review of Books
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A multimedia literary and cultural arts magazine with an enduring commitment to the written word. https://lareviewofbooks.org/
Why do we keep returning to history? And what changes when we recover what was buried, silenced, or forgotten? Join WeHo Reads for a conversation about reimagining history. RSVP now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weho-reads-reimagining-history-tickets-1995409963917?aff=larb
In an adapted excerpt, Ken Liu on what cannot be replaced by LLM writing: "For the latter moiety of the partitioning of each field, I don’t believe human artists are at risk of being displaced by machines at all." http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ken-liu-excerpt-art-copying-first-encounters-ai
"Taking a permission slip from her book of animal sex, I decided to run with the messy lot of it." Emma Wood reflects on watching and reading the work of Perrin Ireland: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perrin-roosevelt-ireland-thirsty-science-poking-the-squid/
"There’s maybe a fairy-tale aspect to the book, in a dark kind of way, because there aren’t a lot of fairy tales for middle-aged women." Gina Tomaine talks to Meg Howrey about her new novel, "Body Language": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/meg-howrey-body-language-sisters-mother-alzheimers-care
"Harden claims to accept the most obvious and prevalent criticisms of her field, in order to pretend she has advanced beyond them." Jonathan Basile responds to Mike Fortun’s on "Original Sin": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/eugenics-nature-nurture-jonathan-basile-responding-mike-fortun
Lorraine Daston on Roopika Risam's new book: "Risam does occasionally acknowledge that local knowledge trumps the most accurate maps. But too often she veers toward granting data a life of its own." http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/data-empire-roopika-risam-information-organize-control-dominate
Cameron Manley reviews two new books on Russia’s messianic mission under Putin: "Neither book pretends to have a ready-made answer, but both locate hope not in foreign policy but within Russia itself." http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/putin-ideology-russias-new-imperialism-closing-russian-mind
"She wants to make monsters of us—to infuse a little animal into our humanity, for the better." Emma Wood reflects on reading and watching the work of Perrin Ireland and her new book "Poking the Squid": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perrin-roosevelt-ireland-thirsty-science-poking-the-squid
Yelena Furman reviews Elaine Elinson’s "Radiant as the Stars": "The novel does not engage in introspection or pose questions, instead marching triumphantly toward what it proclaims to be a glorious future." http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/radiant-stars-elaine-elinson-jewish-ukraine-russian-empire
@kyliu99.bsky.social's thought-provoking piece on copying in humans and machines, The Art of Copying, has been published in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. The essay is a part of our volume First Encounters with AI, forthcoming with @uofmpress.bsky.social. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ken-...
The Art of Copying | Los Angeles Review of Books
The long history of scribes being replaced by machines, and what cannot be replaced by LLM imitation in current writing.
lareviewofbooks.org
Elizabeth Metzger considers poet Franz Wright’s final, posthumous collection, Axe in Blossom: Last Poems & Fragments. Written in the face of his own death, these late poems confront mortality, silence, and the limits of language. lareviewofbooks.org/article/fran...
Stranger, Love Your Life | Los Angeles Review of Books
The final collection from one of contemporary poetry’s essential voices.
lareviewofbooks.org
"Rather than stay in his comfort zone, Russo plays with regional geography to address what he recently described as 'the many paradoxes of democracy.'" Harry Stecopoulos on Richard Russo's "Under the Falls": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/richard-russo-under-falls-upstate-new-york-racism
Learn how to keep your readers reading, no matter what shape your essay takes! Join Lauren Markham as she leads a six-week online workshop dedicated to understanding the essay as a shape-shifting, exploratory form. Learn more: https://lareviewofbooks.org/event/exploring-the-essay-w-lauren-markham/
"History seldom grants us the luxury of discarding the stories we inherit; it asks us instead whether we continue to believe them." Cameron Manley reviews two new books on Russia under Putin: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/putin-ideology-russias-new-imperialism-closing-russian-mind
"A question hovers over the book’s conclusion: after 11,000 years of being data-driven, can we now finally drive data?" Lorraine Daston reviews Roopika Risam's "Data Empire": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/data-empire-roopika-risam-information-organize-control-dominate
"One can’t escape blue-collar New York through white supremacist Georgia. Regionalism’s advantages are always threatened by its liabilities." Harry Stecopoulos on Richard Russo's "Under the Falls": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/radiant-stars-elaine-elinson-jewish-ukraine-russian-empire
Bumper-to-bumper, nose-to-tail, page-to-page. Collide with Traffic, our 49th quarterly issue. Get your copy today: https://lareviewofbooks.org/quarterly
Thank you to the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social team for their editing of this piece. It's been a while, and it's always a pleasure to write for this publication.
Los Angeles Review of Books@lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · 4d ago"This is a story that deserves a wide audience, yet the way it is told undercuts its power." Yelena Furman reviews Elaine Elinson’s "Radiant as the Stars": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/radiant-stars-elaine-elinson-jewish-ukraine-russian-empire
In an adapted excerpt, Ken Liu on what cannot be replaced by LLM writing: "The advent of a machine capable of reproducing that original better than humans can often serve to split a field rather than replace it." http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ken-liu-excerpt-art-copying-first-encounters-ai
“Wright has always been a poet of extremes, of the tortured psyche. His poems urgently convert obsession into devotion.” In @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, Elizabeth Metzger reviews Franz Wright’s final poetry collection, “Axe in Blossom: Last Poems & Fragments” - lareviewofbooks.org/article/fran...
Stranger, Love Your Life | Los Angeles Review of Books
The final collection from one of contemporary poetry’s essential voices.
lareviewofbooks.org
"This is a story that deserves a wide audience, yet the way it is told undercuts its power." Yelena Furman reviews Elaine Elinson’s "Radiant as the Stars": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/radiant-stars-elaine-elinson-jewish-ukraine-russian-empire
"'Erupcja' is all about how coincidences are never random or, at least, they cease to be random once people make meaning from them." Polina Peremitina reviews Pete Ohs’ "Erupcja": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/erupcja-pete-ohs-charli-xcx-mount-etna-warsaw
When Byron Comes to Warsaw | Los Angeles Review of Books
Eruptions and disruptions break Charli XCX and her friends in the new film from Pete Ohs.
lareviewofbooks.org
"Movements cannot simply focus on fighting back against ICE and detention centers. Abolition requires a positive vision." Ashley Dawson explores John Washington's "How to Close a Camp": https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/john-washington-how-close-camp-ice-detention-resistance/
"Yes, you lose your bodily autonomy, but who needs that when you have a patriarchal regime who will help you find the right guy?" Annie Berke on the weird, fascist undertones of "One Night Only": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/one-night-only-fascist-sex-dystopia-rom-com
"Our modern ridicule, however, stems from a profound misunderstanding of the practice of copying." Ken Liu on what cannot be replaced by LLM imitation in current writing, an excerpt from "First Encounters with AI": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ken-liu-excerpt-art-copying-first-encounters-ai
"Thomson has staked his professional identity on a beautifully written, weakly argued polemic that reads as patrician at best and antique at worst." Tim Riley reviews David Thomson's latest: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/david-thomson-sudden-flicker-light-film-history-revisionist
"The thing about time and art is that in the unending march of years, art can get lost, sometimes so lost that it takes a real sleuth to find it." Mesha Maren on the power of the reissue: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/mesha-maren-reissues-women-publishing-conglomerates-independent-presses
No Reason to Hide It | Los Angeles Review of Books
What is going on with the reissue trend in publishing?
lareviewofbooks.org
"Fiction gives you empathy in a way that nothing else does, and I think empathy is a much more valuable education than reading facts.” Comedian Anthony Jeselnik about what he wanted from a book club: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/anthony-jeselnik-comedy-celebrity-book-clubs-classics-canon/
The best way to write more is to write every day. The best way to write every day is to think like a cartoonist. Join Nathan Gelgud in a six-week workshop on the art of the daily comic. Register today: lareviewofbooks.org/event/how-to-think-like-a-cartoonist-with-nathan-gelgud/
"'How to Close a Camp' is an essential manual for movements seeking to dismantle the core apparatuses of contemporary white supremacy." Ashley Dawson reviews John Washington's "How to Close a Camp": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/john-washington-how-close-camp-ice-detention-resistance