GRIN & TONIC
LOVE ROCKS
A READING LIFE
FICTION
A soldier returns to the town he thought he'd escaped in Toni Morrison's new novel.
HUMAN NATURE
Tess Taylor reviews Florence Williams' Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History.

May 19: Nathaniel Hawthorne died on this day in 1864, and Emily Dickinson's funeral took place on this day in 1886. Longfellow's poem recalling Hawthorne's funeral in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, describes a town "white with apple-blooms";…

"Rock and roll," says Robert Christgau,  "has produced a surprising bounty of old men with something to say. Leonard Cohen fits this paradigm, with two significant differences.…

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Books CDs, DVDs to know about now
Old Ideas

With dates announced for his upcoming Old Ideas concert tour, we celebrate the inimitable Leonard Cohen: bard, survivor, legend. His most recent album is a return to form for the balladeer, exploring signature themes of lust and longing, spirituality and struggle, all overlaid with a droll sense of humor as familiar as Cohen's prophetic voice.

Wish You Were Here

When Jack Luxton hears that his estranged brother has been killed in combat, long-buried memories begin to well up like groundwater, and difficult choices Jack thought he reconciled himself to years ago turn out to be close at hand. Man Booker Prize-winner Graham Swift's novel plumbs timeless themes of regret, renewal, and the bonds of love.

The Sovereignties of Invention

The opening story in Matthew Battles's electric collection, "The Dogs in the Trees", documents the inexplicable appearance of arboreal canines. Further gorgeous fantastika follows, producing a volume sure to draw comparisons to Borges and George Saunders.