Bookforum Magazine
@bookforum.bsky.social
All about books since 1994. Subscribe to our print magazine today.
Pinned
Bookforum Magazine
@bookforum.bsky.social
· Apr 23
The Spring issue is here!
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
Who has a new piece out in @bookforum.bsky.social and loves cats to a dysfunctional degree? www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
Cat Power
Mayumi Inaba writes a heartbreaking story for pet lovers
– Charlotte Shane
www.bookforum.com
April 23, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Who has a new piece out in @bookforum.bsky.social and loves cats to a dysfunctional degree? www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
I wrote about Stephen Rodefer’s Four Lectures for @bookforum.bsky.social, just reissued by @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social.
I’ve been waiting 20 years for this book
I’ve been waiting 20 years for this book
Collage Education
Braving the cacophony of poet Stephen Rodefer – Michael Robbins
www.bookforum.com
April 23, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I wrote about Stephen Rodefer’s Four Lectures for @bookforum.bsky.social, just reissued by @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social.
I’ve been waiting 20 years for this book
I’ve been waiting 20 years for this book
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
A stellar review of SAD TIGER in the Spring issue of @bookforum.bsky.social:
"Sinno refuses to be hamstrung by genre, choosing a balletic approach, as if only a choreographed dance around her subject, again and again, will properly encapsulate its blast radius."
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
"Sinno refuses to be hamstrung by genre, choosing a balletic approach, as if only a choreographed dance around her subject, again and again, will properly encapsulate its blast radius."
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
Blight of My Life
Neige Sinno’s memoir of child sexual abuse – Elias Altman
www.bookforum.com
April 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
A stellar review of SAD TIGER in the Spring issue of @bookforum.bsky.social:
"Sinno refuses to be hamstrung by genre, choosing a balletic approach, as if only a choreographed dance around her subject, again and again, will properly encapsulate its blast radius."
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
"Sinno refuses to be hamstrung by genre, choosing a balletic approach, as if only a choreographed dance around her subject, again and again, will properly encapsulate its blast radius."
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
Elias Altman's thoughtful and beautiful writing on SAD TIGER in @bookforum.bsky.social is a gift to us all. "the mark of a fierce mind for whom getting better is far less interesting than getting real." www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
Blight of My Life
Neige Sinno’s memoir of child sexual abuse – Elias Altman
www.bookforum.com
April 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Elias Altman's thoughtful and beautiful writing on SAD TIGER in @bookforum.bsky.social is a gift to us all. "the mark of a fierce mind for whom getting better is far less interesting than getting real." www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
For @bookforum.bsky.social, I wrote about “Portraits in Life and Death,” Peter Hujar’s 1975 photography collection depicting the mostly gay artists and intellectuals of New York’s downtown on the cusp of the AIDS crisis. www.bookforum.com/print/3104/t...
April 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
For @bookforum.bsky.social, I wrote about “Portraits in Life and Death,” Peter Hujar’s 1975 photography collection depicting the mostly gay artists and intellectuals of New York’s downtown on the cusp of the AIDS crisis. www.bookforum.com/print/3104/t...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
He’s reminding me to resubscribe to @bookforum.bsky.social now that I got my last print issue on the way in. He’s very alarmed about it!
April 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
He’s reminding me to resubscribe to @bookforum.bsky.social now that I got my last print issue on the way in. He’s very alarmed about it!
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
In the new issue of @bookforum.bsky.social , Kay Gabriel and Patrick DeDauw review our three-volume translation of Peter Weiss's magnum opus, "The Aesthetics of Resistance," and comment on how necessary it is in this political moment.
buff.ly/7pgfEAH
buff.ly/7pgfEAH
Front Lines
Peter Weiss’s literature of revolt – Kay Gabriel and Patrick DeDauw
www.bookforum.com
April 28, 2025 at 7:38 PM
In the new issue of @bookforum.bsky.social , Kay Gabriel and Patrick DeDauw review our three-volume translation of Peter Weiss's magnum opus, "The Aesthetics of Resistance," and comment on how necessary it is in this political moment.
buff.ly/7pgfEAH
buff.ly/7pgfEAH
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
The Spring issue is here!
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
April 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The Spring issue is here!
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
The Spring issue is here!
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
April 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The Spring issue is here!
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
David Velasco interviews @sarahmschulman.bsky.social, essays & reviews by Lidija Haas, @moiradonegan.bsky.social, @hujane.bsky.social, Audrey Wollen, Harmony Holiday, @charoshane.bsky.social, @sashafrerejones.bsky.social, Hannah Black, and more. bookforum.com/print/3104
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
i reviewed the new katie kitamura for @bookforum.bsky.social (it broke my brain): www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
Between the Acts
Katie Kitamura closes her trilogy with a novel about theater – Jane Hu
www.bookforum.com
April 23, 2025 at 4:32 PM
i reviewed the new katie kitamura for @bookforum.bsky.social (it broke my brain): www.bookforum.com/print/3104/b...
"The moment is more ludicrous than lubricious; Lynn notes that Miss Maxfeld, in order to smooch the girl, has to 'lift me up so that the heels of my Village Cobbler shoes rose off the floor.'"
In our winter issue, Melissa Anderson reviews Jane DeLynn's IN THRALL: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/s...
In our winter issue, Melissa Anderson reviews Jane DeLynn's IN THRALL: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/s...
Sweet Days of Discipline
Jane DeLynn’s novel of a student’s sexual awakening – Melissa Anderson
www.bookforum.com
February 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
"The moment is more ludicrous than lubricious; Lynn notes that Miss Maxfeld, in order to smooch the girl, has to 'lift me up so that the heels of my Village Cobbler shoes rose off the floor.'"
In our winter issue, Melissa Anderson reviews Jane DeLynn's IN THRALL: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/s...
In our winter issue, Melissa Anderson reviews Jane DeLynn's IN THRALL: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/s...
"The real crime, Boullosa seems to argue, is not the mere act of stealing, but how theft becomes enshrined into law and then retroactively justified."
Read @rachelmonroe.bsky.social on @carmenboullosa.bsky.social's TEXAS: THE GREAT THEFT (@deepvellum.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Read @rachelmonroe.bsky.social on @carmenboullosa.bsky.social's TEXAS: THE GREAT THEFT (@deepvellum.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Texas Excess
Carmen Boullosa upends the Lone Star State’s mythology – Rachel Monroe
www.bookforum.com
February 21, 2025 at 6:19 PM
"The real crime, Boullosa seems to argue, is not the mere act of stealing, but how theft becomes enshrined into law and then retroactively justified."
Read @rachelmonroe.bsky.social on @carmenboullosa.bsky.social's TEXAS: THE GREAT THEFT (@deepvellum.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Read @rachelmonroe.bsky.social on @carmenboullosa.bsky.social's TEXAS: THE GREAT THEFT (@deepvellum.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
The WINTER ISSUE is here! With Audrey Wollen on Joy Williams, Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf, Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives, Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard's letters, and so much more. Read, share, and subscribe today. bookforum.com/print/3103
February 13, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The WINTER ISSUE is here! With Audrey Wollen on Joy Williams, Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf, Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives, Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard's letters, and so much more. Read, share, and subscribe today. bookforum.com/print/3103
"It is clear today—as perhaps it was not then—that the issue is not awareness. Ours is a world that does not intuit others’ humanity. And ours is a world that does."
Mary Turfah reads Isabella Hammad's RECOGNIZING THE STRANGER: ON PALESTINE AND NARRATIVE www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Mary Turfah reads Isabella Hammad's RECOGNIZING THE STRANGER: ON PALESTINE AND NARRATIVE www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
I to I
Recognition and alienation in the work of Isabella Hammad
– Mary Turfah
www.bookforum.com
February 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
"It is clear today—as perhaps it was not then—that the issue is not awareness. Ours is a world that does not intuit others’ humanity. And ours is a world that does."
Mary Turfah reads Isabella Hammad's RECOGNIZING THE STRANGER: ON PALESTINE AND NARRATIVE www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Mary Turfah reads Isabella Hammad's RECOGNIZING THE STRANGER: ON PALESTINE AND NARRATIVE www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
My piece on David Lynch for Bookforum in 2016, “The Interpretation of Screams,” link in comments —
January 17, 2025 at 12:14 AM
My piece on David Lynch for Bookforum in 2016, “The Interpretation of Screams,” link in comments —
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
In the latest issue of Bookforum, @geneseymour.bsky.social has a really nice review of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS. The book is available from Amazon and Abebooks in the US, and the publisher, Wolke Verlag, ships worldwide via DHL.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Tinker Taylor
How a progressive jazz legend reconfigured the way we experience music – Gene Seymour
www.bookforum.com
February 13, 2025 at 2:29 PM
In the latest issue of Bookforum, @geneseymour.bsky.social has a really nice review of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS. The book is available from Amazon and Abebooks in the US, and the publisher, Wolke Verlag, ships worldwide via DHL.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
'Imagine the violence of a world whose fix for genocide—which one is funding—is dissociation... Instead, if we are to stay here, “to remain human at this juncture is to remain in agony.”'
Mary Turfah on Isabella Hammad's Recognizing the Stranger
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Mary Turfah on Isabella Hammad's Recognizing the Stranger
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
I to I
Recognition and alienation in the work of Isabella Hammad
– Mary Turfah
www.bookforum.com
February 13, 2025 at 8:11 AM
'Imagine the violence of a world whose fix for genocide—which one is funding—is dissociation... Instead, if we are to stay here, “to remain human at this juncture is to remain in agony.”'
Mary Turfah on Isabella Hammad's Recognizing the Stranger
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Mary Turfah on Isabella Hammad's Recognizing the Stranger
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/i...
Reposted by Bookforum Magazine
"But even if these novels are not quite like each other—and not quite like themselves—they are not quite like anything else, either."
Becca Rothfeld on Antonio Di Benedetto in @bookforum.bsky.social. The Suicides is now out in @eallen.bsky.social's translation.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Becca Rothfeld on Antonio Di Benedetto in @bookforum.bsky.social. The Suicides is now out in @eallen.bsky.social's translation.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Nowhere Fast
Antonio di Benedetto’s “Trilogy of Expectation” – Becca Rothfeld
www.bookforum.com
February 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM
"But even if these novels are not quite like each other—and not quite like themselves—they are not quite like anything else, either."
Becca Rothfeld on Antonio Di Benedetto in @bookforum.bsky.social. The Suicides is now out in @eallen.bsky.social's translation.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Becca Rothfeld on Antonio Di Benedetto in @bookforum.bsky.social. The Suicides is now out in @eallen.bsky.social's translation.
www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
"Her puns pummel the reader, multiplying meanings; lines possess double (or more) of their sense, no need (no room!) to read between them."
Read @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social on Elfriede Jelinek's THE CHILDREN OF THE DEAD (@yalepress.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/m...
Read @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social on Elfriede Jelinek's THE CHILDREN OF THE DEAD (@yalepress.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/m...
My Brilliant Fiend
Elfriede Jelinek’s screwball zombie epic
– Jennifer Krasinski
www.bookforum.com
February 18, 2025 at 7:51 PM
"Her puns pummel the reader, multiplying meanings; lines possess double (or more) of their sense, no need (no room!) to read between them."
Read @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social on Elfriede Jelinek's THE CHILDREN OF THE DEAD (@yalepress.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/m...
Read @jenniferkrasinski.bsky.social on Elfriede Jelinek's THE CHILDREN OF THE DEAD (@yalepress.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/m...
THE AFTERLIFE IS LETTING GO "becomes an argument against reparations, a treatise on the impossibility of repair through monetization or monumentalization of state-endorsed crimes and atrocities."
Harmony Holiday reads @brandonshimoda.bsky.social's new book: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Harmony Holiday reads @brandonshimoda.bsky.social's new book: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
The Secret History
An investigation of the US’s mass internment of Japanese Americans – Harmony Holiday
www.bookforum.com
February 18, 2025 at 7:32 PM
THE AFTERLIFE IS LETTING GO "becomes an argument against reparations, a treatise on the impossibility of repair through monetization or monumentalization of state-endorsed crimes and atrocities."
Harmony Holiday reads @brandonshimoda.bsky.social's new book: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Harmony Holiday reads @brandonshimoda.bsky.social's new book: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
"Even these characters’ worst crimes and cruelties are omissions rather than commissions. Di Benedetto’s narrators cannot take hold of anything, even their own callousness."
Becca Rothfeld considers Antonio di Benedetto’s "Trilogy of Expectation": www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Becca Rothfeld considers Antonio di Benedetto’s "Trilogy of Expectation": www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Nowhere Fast
Antonio di Benedetto’s “Trilogy of Expectation” – Becca Rothfeld
www.bookforum.com
February 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
"Even these characters’ worst crimes and cruelties are omissions rather than commissions. Di Benedetto’s narrators cannot take hold of anything, even their own callousness."
Becca Rothfeld considers Antonio di Benedetto’s "Trilogy of Expectation": www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
Becca Rothfeld considers Antonio di Benedetto’s "Trilogy of Expectation": www.bookforum.com/print/3103/n...
"Brainard’s letters read like a natural extension of his creative ethos; regardless of what genre or mode he was working in, he always seemed to be addressing his audience as though it were his own tightknit inner circle."
Read Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/c...
Read Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/c...
Come as You Are
Remembering Joe Brainard in letters to friends, lovers, and fans
– Andrew Chan
www.bookforum.com
February 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
"Brainard’s letters read like a natural extension of his creative ethos; regardless of what genre or mode he was working in, he always seemed to be addressing his audience as though it were his own tightknit inner circle."
Read Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/c...
Read Andrew Chan on Joe Brainard: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/c...
"We as a species must grow more familiar with the basic concept of limits, hard stops, final goodbyes; our world has them, as do our words."
Audrey Wollen reads Joy Williams (@tinhouse.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Audrey Wollen reads Joy Williams (@tinhouse.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
The Azrael World
Joy Williams’s stories of angels, demons, and death – Audrey Wollen
www.bookforum.com
February 13, 2025 at 9:56 PM
"We as a species must grow more familiar with the basic concept of limits, hard stops, final goodbyes; our world has them, as do our words."
Audrey Wollen reads Joy Williams (@tinhouse.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
Audrey Wollen reads Joy Williams (@tinhouse.bsky.social): www.bookforum.com/print/3103/t...
"What puzzles me is that divorce has acquired increasing literary significance to the very degree that marriage has forfeited social meaning."
Read Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/r...
Read Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/r...
Reader, I Divorced Him
Narratives of marriage and its dissolution – Hermione Hoby
www.bookforum.com
February 13, 2025 at 9:55 PM
"What puzzles me is that divorce has acquired increasing literary significance to the very degree that marriage has forfeited social meaning."
Read Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/r...
Read Hermione Hoby on divorce narratives: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/r...
"Who is 'we'? Am I you? Like anyone forced to leave family, country, and language behind, the repatriated Kristóf—one of the postwar greats of European literature—would have rather stayed at home."
Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/y...
Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/y...
You Can’t Go Home Again
Ágota Kristóf’s confounding fictions of exile – Jessi Jezewska Stevens
www.bookforum.com
February 13, 2025 at 9:55 PM
"Who is 'we'? Am I you? Like anyone forced to leave family, country, and language behind, the repatriated Kristóf—one of the postwar greats of European literature—would have rather stayed at home."
Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/y...
Jessi Jezewska Stevens on Ágota Kristóf: www.bookforum.com/print/3103/y...