Public Books
@publicbooks.bsky.social
Public Books is an online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. www.publicbooks.org
In re-reading Mariana Enriquez’s “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave,” @magarmtis.bsky.social encountered “the biting reminder that the cemetery is, at its core, the locus of grief, and grief has tentacles.”
B-Sides: “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys” by Mariana Enriquez - Public Books
“I spent my adolescence in Buenos Aires and made my own fumbling pilgrimages to that city’s cemeteries.”
publicbooks.org
In a review of Kiran Desai’s sprawling, Booker-nominated novel, “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” Shakti Jaising asks: “To what extent might the Booker, and venues like it in Europe and the US, be drawn for self-serving reasons to fiction like Desai’s?” www.publicbooks.org/the-allure-o...
The Allure of Postcolonial Pathos - Public Books
"To what extent might the Booker—and venues like it in Europe and the US—be drawn for self-serving reasons to fiction like Kiran Desai’s?"
publicbooks.org
For our series On Our Nightstands, our editors share the books perched bedside (or in their bags, on their e-readers, next to a lounge chair on the beach, in the seatback pocket of a plane, etc, etc.). Read all the recs here!
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“You get to put your heart back together after reading, and you get to think about how the book did that to you, and why.” www.publicbooks.org/melodrama-wi...
“Melodrama with a Modern Sensibility”: A Conversation with Megan Cummins - Public Books
How do the families and friends of those struggling with addiction perceive that addiction, cope with it, and try (or fail) to love that person anyway?
publicbooks.org
Next up in On Our Nightstands, co-editor of our Music section Gustavus Stadler shares Joshua Clover’s “Roadrunner: A Song by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers” (@dukepress.bsky.social).
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“‘Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave’ delivers me back to the resolutely personal.” @magarmtis.bsky.social recently re-read Mariana Enriquez’s “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave” after losing her father. The experience was different than any other read.
B-Sides: “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys” by Mariana Enriquez - Public Books
“I spent my adolescence in Buenos Aires and made my own fumbling pilgrimages to that city’s cemeteries.”
publicbooks.org
New at PB: Kyle Francis Williams interviews (our very own managing editor) Megan Cummins about her debut novel “Atomic Hearts” (Ballantine), her love of similes, and being an emotional maximalist on the page. “Atomic Hearts” is out in paperback today. www.publicbooks.org/melodrama-wi...
“Melodrama with a Modern Sensibility”: A Conversation with Megan Cummins - Public Books
How do the families and friends of those struggling with addiction perceive that addiction, cope with it, and try (or fail) to love that person anyway?
publicbooks.org
“Mariana Enriquez’s fiction is crowded with characters hovering between the living and the dead.”
B-Sides: “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys” by Mariana Enriquez - Public Books
“I spent my adolescence in Buenos Aires and made my own fumbling pilgrimages to that city’s cemeteries.”
publicbooks.org
What are our editors reading? For @becquer.bsky.social, the co-editor of our Lit in Translation section, it’s Michel Nieva’s “Technology and Barbarism: or: how billionaires will save us from the end of the world” translated @rahulbery.bsky.social & Daniel Hahn.
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“Simon’s research leads him to question the way both his mother and the Dutch government handled the fallout of the crash.” A new novel looks back at the 1977 collision of two jets on a runway in the Canary Islands. Read @sebasfaber.bsky.social's review:
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
New at PB: In the latest B-Sides, @magarmtis.bsky.social revisits Mariana Enriquez’s “Somebody is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys.” For Enriquez, writes Armillas-Tiseyra, “the cemetery is a portal.”
B-Sides: “Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys” by Mariana Enriquez - Public Books
“I spent my adolescence in Buenos Aires and made my own fumbling pilgrimages to that city’s cemeteries.”
publicbooks.org
“Birds don’t just sing their songs when they’re awake. They also sing them quietly in their dreams.” It’s clear that animals dream—we witness it all the time. This proves, argues David Peña-Guzmán, that they are “world builders,” too.
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
Next up in On Our Nightstands, Print/Screen section editor Leah Price shares that she’s reading “Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction” by @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, from @princetonupress.bsky.social.
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“It’s not for nothing that Émile Zola likened fiction writing to a scientific experiment.” New at PB: Sebastiaan Faber (@sebasfaber.bsky.social) on “In het oog (Eyes on you)” by Marijke Schermer.
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
What books are on our editors’ nightstands this month? For @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social, co-editor of our Global Black History section, it’s Marie Mitchell’s “Kin: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen,” out now from @wwnorton.com.
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“At the start of the 20th century, there is a shift, especially in psychology, that causes a lot of people interested in animals to turn away from that curiosity.” New at PB: David Peña-Guzmán on how we lost our wonder for the natural world.
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
What are our editors reading? For managing editor @megancummins.bsky.social, it’s Laura Kasischke’s “The Lifeguard” from @redhenpress.bsky.social.
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“Yet Simon and Nicola do cross boundaries. And the discomfort and introspection this generates is key to each of the two novels.”
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
This month for On Our Nightstands, Public Thinker series editor Benjamin R. Cohen shares “Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Rebuilding Our Broken Food System” by @nancymatsumoto.bsky.social (@melvillehouse.bsky.social).
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“We humans have a moral obligation to reconfigure how we relate to nonhuman animals.” New at PB: David Peña-Guzmán on the inner lives of nonhuman animals.
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
“The Hairdresser’s Son” by Gerbrand Bakker and “In het oog (Eyes on you)” by Marijke Schermer explore three of the main concerns in contemporary Dutch society, translated roughly as “prudification,” “existential security,” and “boundary-crossing behavior.”
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
What’s on our nightstands this month? Our co–editor in chief @njdames.bsky.social is reading Frederic Prokosch’s “Voices: A Memoir” (or is it?) from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social.
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“What we have up until now is more than enough to see animals in this new light.” New at PB: We don’t need to do more research involving animals, argues David Peña-Guzmán. We already know they deserve to have rights.
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
For the latest On Our Nightstands, our editors @njdames.bsky.social, Benjamin R. Cohen, @megancummins.bsky.social, @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social, Leah Price, @becquer.bsky.social, and Gustavus Stadler share what they’re reading. Recs here →
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“Their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront three of the main concerns that keep the Netherlands up at night.”
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
At Public Books, our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands?
On Our Nightstands: July 2026 - Public Books
At “Public Books,” our editorial staff and contributors are hard at work to provide readers with thought-provoking articles. But when the workday is done, what is actually on our nightstands? Here we…
publicbooks.org
“I use dreaming, which is a fascinating thing that brains, and nervous systems, and organisms do, as a window into the minds of other animals that share this capacity with us.”
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
“The book is an exploration of animal consciousness that presents animals as what I call ‘world builders.’” New at PB: David Peña-Guzmán in conversation with John Plotz.
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org
“As cultural and political shifts have fueled new anxieties, collective self-confidence in the Netherlands has crumbled.” In a review of two recent works of Dutch fiction, @sebasfaber.bsky.social explores the anxieties confronting contemporary Netherlands.
What Keeps the Dutch Up at Night? - Public Books
Although the novels’ protagonists are fascinating, even magnetic characters, they are eerie—all the more so because their unsettling behavior forces the reader to confront what most worries the…
publicbooks.org
For @RecallThisBook, author David Peña-Guzmán talks with John Plotz about his book “When Animals Dream” (@princetonupress.bsky.social). The book’s thinking, argues Peña-Guzmán, “foregrounds animals as complete subjects.”
The Wonderful Capacities of Other Animals - Public Books
“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds have vivid dreams, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination.”
publicbooks.org