Thelma looks as if it will be [a] formula piece: in this case, plucky elder defies naysayers and shows indomitable spirit...[But] it’s also about acknowledging the weaknesses and limitations that invariably come with age. —Brooke Allen on Thelma

The novel [is] a tour de force satire of corporate greed, hyperprivileged powerful people, and the new religion they create to enforce the compliance of community members. —Susan Balée reviews A Better World by Sarah Langan @AtriaBooks #bookreview

The coup had not yet happened, but the city—the whole country—instantly shut down.... An eerie desolation had spread across the city. —From “Paraguay: Versions of Unknowability” by Mark Jacobs. Full essay free to nonsubscribers: #essay #memoir

…this morning as you brewed the coffee and pondered the weather, it occurred to me that some part of me would never forget—even in death— what it’s like to be deeply loved l —From “No Known Address” by Wendy Videlock

The poet is knowing, since he knows his limitations and yet can transcend them as well; he knows...that along with the need to grow up, we can still wish simply to be. Our limitations allow us to live. —Mark Jarman on Knowing by Mark Cox from Press 53

I hear whispers of waves, a deep swell, an undiscovered timbre, an arcane breeze. (The seashell forms the figure of a heart.) —From “Seashell” by Rubén Darío, tr. Jonathan Simkins @simkinsandrade

[In Yamin’s paintings] the invigorating tension between clear, harmonious color and slightly brutal imagery seem inevitable. —Karen Wilkin reviews Elizabeth Yamin at Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation #artreview #artlovers #paintings #art

Phillips’ prose reads like poetry, and her understanding of these sisters—one mature, one not—gives this novel its power. In the end, it delivers a painful truth...You can only become yourself on your own. —Susan Balée on Julia Phillips' Bear @HogarthBooks

. . . inequality Isn’t a problem that the Overlords Have given time or thought or energy Of any kind to solving recently, If ever: praise the genius who designed This never to be unbuilt place where envy And ostentation are so well aligned. —From “On Capital” by Charles Martin

All [of Werfel’s paintings] clearly reflected the same sensitivity to the nuances of actuality and delight in inventing painterly equivalents for lived experience. —Karen Wilkin reviews Gina Werfel at Prince Street Gallery #artreview #painting

Too often Katherine Bucknell’s prose asks to be noticed, with the result that her ponderous 840-page biography of Isherwood is weighty with unhappy formulations. —William H. Pritchard on Christopher Isherwood Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell @fsgbooks

Tristram Powell warned me not to underestimate his mother’s part...“Her memory was the right arm, as it were, of my father’s imagination.” —Powell biographer #HilarySpurling revisits Violet Powell & her role in #AnthonyPowell's #ADancetotheMusicofTime

This book is about a guy questioning why, outside of work, he has no life of his own. Meanwhile, Kat Tang…seems to be having lots of meta-fun with her book. —Susan Balée reviews Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang @ScribnerBooks #bookreview #fictionreads

I know it’s a shameless delusion to think of writing well as suspending the rush of time, but isn’t that the dream, the one I chase every day? —From “Round and Round and Round” by Sydney Lea #poem #poetry #poetrylovers

Bad things are going to happen in this novel, but the worst things are those that happen to women at the hands of controlling men, and what woman could live free of male control in the 1950s? —Susan Balée on The God of the Woods, Liz Moore @riverheadbooks

…find a semblance of warmth and a tiny home, here between words in my little poem. —From “Stealing the Show” by Wendy Videlock #poem #poetry #poetrylovers

Hell’s Kitchen...is a dynamic, beautifully performed show that never really lands…You can have a good time if you’re not looking for something new and if you’re okay with generic expressions of exuberance and passion. —Erick Neher on Hell’s Kitchen

We can hear a profound uncertainty and wrenching human desire when Nealon ends the book with what appears to be an exchange with the muse. —Mark Jarman on All About You by Chris Nealon @WavePoetry

We gather him from the graveyard before we head south, bring him back when we return. He’s here on the interstate with us, as we speed northward… —From “From State to State” by Robert Cording #poem #poetry #poetrylovers #grief #litmag

Nathanson orchestrates the emotional resonance of color like an accomplished composer. —Karen Wilkin reviews Jill Nathanson at Berry Campbell. #artreview #artexhibition #painting #artlovers