Features & Reviews
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Vollmann’s ‘Imperial’ country
William T. Vollmann, the author whose exhaustive research helps to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction, and whose books tend to be measured by the pound, has a new book coming out titled Imperial. The 1300-page tome looks at…
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The Rumpus Interview with Sam Anderson
“An ideal, awesome job,”—that’s how Sam Anderson, at several points in our conversation, describes his position as book critic for New York Magazine.
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Bait and Switch
Like a well-planned itinerary, the blueprints of James Lasdun’s stories are thoughtfully delineated, and each step feels purposeful and sure.
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Dave Eggers: The Last Book I Loved, Destiny Disrupted
I’m in the middle of Tamim Ansary’s Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, and it’s incredibly illuminating. Ansary pretty much covers the entire history of Islam in an incredibly readable and lucid way. I’ve been recommending this…
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Time is Real!
Not too long ago I reviewed a movie called The Examined Life, by director Astra Taylor, which featured ninety minutes of fascinating, exhilarating discussions with eight contemporary philosophers. The film left me hungry for more, and recently The New Press…
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The Rumpus Original Combo: Rachel Loden
Rachel Loden is the author of Hotel Imperium as well as four chapbooks, including The Last Campaign and The Richard Nixon Snow Globe. Her second full-length book, Dick of the Dead, was published by Ahsahta Press in May 2009. What…
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Muumuu House: Independent Press Embraces Online Genres
Muumuu House, an independent press edited by author Tao Lin, publishes not only poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, but also Gmail chats and Twitter selections on its starkly minimalist website. Lin’s most recent book Shoplifting from American Apparel garnered mixed reviews…
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Audacia Ray’s New Reading Series
Audacia Ray is an admirably prolific activist, author, blogger, director and producer. She was formerly Executive Editor at $pread Magazine, co-founded the Sex Work Awareness advocacy organization, is Program Officer for the Online Communications and Campaigns division of the International…
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How the NYTimes Book Review selects books to review
In a post on the blog Book Publishing News, publicist Scott Lorenz distills a recent speech by New York Times Book Review Editor Barry Gewen and accounts from other sources to form a picture of how the NYTBR — probably…
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When in Rome: DC Lit Mag Launched
The Rome Review, Washington DC’s new literary magazine, released its inaugural issue on June 27. The issue features work from Daniel Wallace, Blake Butler, Kathleen Rooney, and David Means, as well as photography from Jonathan Goley, Thomas Sayers Ellis, and…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
This week, Rumpus Books published reviews of a novel, a book of poetry, and a book about Donald Rumsfeld, as well as a survey of the stripper memoir, an interview with Sophia Raday, a remembrance of Frank McCourt, and an…
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A Remembrance of Frank McCourt
“Sit back. I’m going to tell you a story,” Frank said in his brogue, looking into the distance like a Homerian epic-teller. “Don’t you ever dare steal it.”