Sanjay Sipahimalani
@sansip.bsky.social
Books, etc.
“Sometimes, I, too, sought expression. I know now that my gods grant me no more than allusion or mention”: Borges
“Sometimes, I, too, sought expression. I know now that my gods grant me no more than allusion or mention”: Borges
"Has been sunset." If this is the sort of terminology they use, no wonder the Washington Post has no need for a books section.
February 16, 2026 at 3:50 AM
"Has been sunset." If this is the sort of terminology they use, no wonder the Washington Post has no need for a books section.
Nation states, says Rana Dasgupta, are past the moment at which "the alignment of the interests of the state and the interests of the population was at its greatest".
February 15, 2026 at 5:19 AM
Nation states, says Rana Dasgupta, are past the moment at which "the alignment of the interests of the state and the interests of the population was at its greatest".
Twenty-five years after his pathbreaking 'Fast Food Nation', Eric Schlosser is “humbled, disappointed, amazed, outraged, angry beyond words, and yet hopeful”.
observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
Twenty-five years since Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser ...
When the American journalist’s seminal book was published in 2001, he became a target of threats and intimidation. He has been dealing with the fallout ever since
observer.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 5:18 AM
Twenty-five years after his pathbreaking 'Fast Food Nation', Eric Schlosser is “humbled, disappointed, amazed, outraged, angry beyond words, and yet hopeful”.
observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
Why is this man still allowed to meddle in our health and agriculture policies?
February 15, 2026 at 2:41 AM
Why is this man still allowed to meddle in our health and agriculture policies?
“The tension in a mystery novel is not between the killer and the detective, but between the author and the reader.” Actor known for playing Sherlock Holmes gets involved in a locked-room mystery. Not as much fun as I thought it would be, but clever and diverting, nonetheless.
February 13, 2026 at 4:14 AM
“The tension in a mystery novel is not between the killer and the detective, but between the author and the reader.” Actor known for playing Sherlock Holmes gets involved in a locked-room mystery. Not as much fun as I thought it would be, but clever and diverting, nonetheless.
"Linguistic diversity is one of a country’s greatest assets because each language shapes a way of seeing and describing the world; each word holds its own history."
english.elpais.com/society/2026...
english.elpais.com/society/2026...
‘Welcome to the calentón’: no nation speaks and thinks in a single language
Beyond the xenophobia, as was made clear by Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl, the existence of different languages does not weaken countries, but enriches them
english.elpais.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:52 AM
"Linguistic diversity is one of a country’s greatest assets because each language shapes a way of seeing and describing the world; each word holds its own history."
english.elpais.com/society/2026...
english.elpais.com/society/2026...
Fascinating: researchers have identified inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi, Prakrit and Sanskrit at tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
February 12, 2026 at 3:51 AM
Fascinating: researchers have identified inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi, Prakrit and Sanskrit at tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
"A consumer is a person whose preëxisting tastes you strive to satisfy over and over; a reader is someone you hope to change, convince, and surprise."
Becca Rothfield on the end of books coverage in the Washington Post.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Becca Rothfield on the end of books coverage in the Washington Post.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post
Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.
www.newyorker.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:04 AM
"A consumer is a person whose preëxisting tastes you strive to satisfy over and over; a reader is someone you hope to change, convince, and surprise."
Becca Rothfield on the end of books coverage in the Washington Post.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Becca Rothfield on the end of books coverage in the Washington Post.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
On the evolution of the Buddhist practice of mindfulness in the West: "Neoliberal capitalism is trying to harness the psyche as a productive force...We’re numbing ourselves to intolerable conditions so we can keep functioning within them."
www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...
www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...
How Capitalism Turned Mindfulness Into a Productivity Hack
A Buddhist teacher discusses how the concept of mindfulness has been co-opted by corporations—and how we can reclaim the practice for social good.
www.newyorker.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:39 AM
On the evolution of the Buddhist practice of mindfulness in the West: "Neoliberal capitalism is trying to harness the psyche as a productive force...We’re numbing ourselves to intolerable conditions so we can keep functioning within them."
www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...
www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...
By one of Fernando Pessoa's alter egos.
February 10, 2026 at 4:02 AM
By one of Fernando Pessoa's alter egos.
Feeling a little bereft because I’ve come to the end of what Julian Barnes says will be his last book. Not sure if it entirely hangs together but the last section manages to be wistful, wry, and whimsical all at once.
February 10, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Feeling a little bereft because I’ve come to the end of what Julian Barnes says will be his last book. Not sure if it entirely hangs together but the last section manages to be wistful, wry, and whimsical all at once.
“The best thing a young writer can now do in America, is to go leftward . . . Do not be passive. Write. Your life in mine, mill, and farm is of deathless significance in the history of the world.” Mike Gold, 1929. Applicable to every country.
jacobin.com/2026/02/new-...
jacobin.com/2026/02/new-...
Go Left, Young Writers!
A century ago, a socialist magazine published a manifesto calling for workers to pick up the pen, heralding the dawn of America’s proletarian literary movement. Our society’s need for working-class wr...
jacobin.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:58 AM
“The best thing a young writer can now do in America, is to go leftward . . . Do not be passive. Write. Your life in mine, mill, and farm is of deathless significance in the history of the world.” Mike Gold, 1929. Applicable to every country.
jacobin.com/2026/02/new-...
jacobin.com/2026/02/new-...
"Page by page she’s a pleasure to read," writes the redoubtable Vivian Gornick of Arundhati Roy's 'Mother Mary Comes to Me', but what is lacking, more often than not, is "the ability to put felt life on the page".
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Mother Trouble | Vivian Gornick
In her new memoir, Arundhati Roy tries to find the language to grapple with the shadow of her formidable, extraordinary mother.
www.nybooks.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:57 AM
"Page by page she’s a pleasure to read," writes the redoubtable Vivian Gornick of Arundhati Roy's 'Mother Mary Comes to Me', but what is lacking, more often than not, is "the ability to put felt life on the page".
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
A letter in the FT: "Perhaps the question isn't how to build more intelligence, but why we've abandoned investing in the intelligence we already have." Answer: because LLMs won't ask for proper wages and working hours.
February 7, 2026 at 4:17 AM
A letter in the FT: "Perhaps the question isn't how to build more intelligence, but why we've abandoned investing in the intelligence we already have." Answer: because LLMs won't ask for proper wages and working hours.
A profile of Anke Gowda, retired sugar factory worker from Karnataka, and his library of two million books free for anyone to borrow and read.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Anke Gowda: The Karnataka man who built a library of two million books
Anke Gowda, whose library is open to everyone, recently received an Indian government award.
www.bbc.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:16 AM
A profile of Anke Gowda, retired sugar factory worker from Karnataka, and his library of two million books free for anyone to borrow and read.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
“I intend to keep nattering on about books, authors and our imperiled literary culture.” Ron Charles on being laid off as book critic at the Washington Post.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I’ve Been Laid Off. I’m Not Done.
After 20 years at The Washington Post, I’m suddenly on my own — and still writing about books.
substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:35 AM
“I intend to keep nattering on about books, authors and our imperiled literary culture.” Ron Charles on being laid off as book critic at the Washington Post.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Since nothing makes sense anymore, we may as well start pronouncing pirates the same way as pilates.
February 5, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Since nothing makes sense anymore, we may as well start pronouncing pirates the same way as pilates.
“It's always the same wherever one goes—it's not the most powerful rulers who have the happiest populations.”
- Graham Greene, The Quiet American
- Graham Greene, The Quiet American
February 4, 2026 at 5:13 AM
“It's always the same wherever one goes—it's not the most powerful rulers who have the happiest populations.”
- Graham Greene, The Quiet American
- Graham Greene, The Quiet American
Borges: “the art of verse consists in arousing expectation and satisfying it” while “the art of prose is perhaps more difficult, because it consists in arousing an expectation and then disappointing it.”
english.elpais.com/culture/2026...
english.elpais.com/culture/2026...
The lost lessons of Jorge Luis Borges: His English and American literature classes
Shortly before the 40th anniversary of the Argentine writer’s death, a new book explores a course he taught in 1966
english.elpais.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:40 AM
Borges: “the art of verse consists in arousing expectation and satisfying it” while “the art of prose is perhaps more difficult, because it consists in arousing an expectation and then disappointing it.”
english.elpais.com/culture/2026...
english.elpais.com/culture/2026...
Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Harold Bloom, James Wood...and Jack Edwards.
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Meet Jack Edwards, the world's most powerful literary critic
Jack Edwards shapes the online world’s reading habits from BookTok. But can he handle his success?
www.newstatesman.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:39 AM
Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Harold Bloom, James Wood...and Jack Edwards.
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Sounds like an unnecessarily painful read.
January 31, 2026 at 4:28 AM
Sounds like an unnecessarily painful read.
Geetanjali Shree: “One doesn’t have to try to be political or sociological in these times, when politics and society are so much upon us. Whatever you do, they creep in.”
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Geetanjali Shree: ‘I’m absolutely against the purity of l...
The Indian writer on angering the grammar police, and why the domestic is as important as the political
observer.co.uk
January 31, 2026 at 4:15 AM
Geetanjali Shree: “One doesn’t have to try to be political or sociological in these times, when politics and society are so much upon us. Whatever you do, they creep in.”
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Is there such a thing as “a New Yorker story?” A very deep dive by Naomi Kanakia.
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/money-and-...
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/money-and-...
The New Yorker offered him a deal
Two months ago, I read a seven-hundred-page collection of short stories by John Cheever.
www.woman-of-letters.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:03 AM
Is there such a thing as “a New Yorker story?” A very deep dive by Naomi Kanakia.
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/money-and-...
www.woman-of-letters.com/p/money-and-...
Frida Kahlo once wrote: "I’m convinced of my disagreement with the counterrevolution – imperialism – fascism – religions – stupidity – capitalism – and the whole gamut of bourgeois tricks."
Today, we have "Frida Kahlo-branded luxury condos".
www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/29/f...
Today, we have "Frida Kahlo-branded luxury condos".
www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/29/f...
Frida Kahlo-branded luxury condos go up for sale in Miami
Units in the Wynwood towers inspired by the anti-capitalist artist are priced between $500,000 and $1.6m
www.theartnewspaper.com
January 30, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Frida Kahlo once wrote: "I’m convinced of my disagreement with the counterrevolution – imperialism – fascism – religions – stupidity – capitalism – and the whole gamut of bourgeois tricks."
Today, we have "Frida Kahlo-branded luxury condos".
www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/29/f...
Today, we have "Frida Kahlo-branded luxury condos".
www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/29/f...