GRIN & TONIC
LOVE ROCKS
INTERVIEW
MYSTERY
Donna Leon's latest outing with her Venetian sleuth, Commissario Guido Brunetti.
UNIVERSITY PRESSES
Adam Kirsch on the inventor of love poetry's most enduring form.

May 16: Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust was published on this day in 1939. Unlike most attacks on Hollywood, West's target was not the glitz and sleaze of those atop the "dream dump" or even the squalor of the movie…

"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 somber 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.