Jennifer Egan: ‘Twitter doesn’t make me feel optimistic about human nature’

The Pulitzer prize-winning author discusses her follow up to A Visit from the Goon Squad and how imagining a new technology set her writing freeWhen Jennifer Egan bought her house in Brooklyn 20 years ago, it had been on the market for eight months. The owners were an elderly couple, and the place was distressed. “There were holes in the floor and the walls were drab,” says Egan, sitting in the kitchen of what is now a beautifully renovated property, full of lovely art and restored period details. Remembering how it was fills the 59-year-old novelist with a peculiar and very specific dread. “What really made it gloomy – and I’m very conscious of this – was that the family who’d lived here, the child had grown up, the parents had gotten old, and I think they’d stopped seeing it. There are moments when I think: is that happening now?”It’s the condition in which most of us live – after a while, we stop seeing our surroundings – and one against which Egan’s skill as a novelist is set. She is highly attuned to the falsifying effects of nostalgia, complacency, solipsism and ignorance of history, and to the delusions of uniqueness that dog every age. She is obsessed, for example, with the 1870s, “an amazing decade, because, except for the telegraph, almost none of the inventions we take for granted now – electricity, say – existed yet. And yet, 20 or 30 years later, there were cars. I think we underestimate the degree to which the change we experience is what it’s always been... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-04-16 08:00:03 UTC ]
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What did Neil Gaiman need to change for The Sandman to make it to Netflix? Everything

It's taken 35 years, but Neil Gaiman believes he's done the impossible: adapt his hugely successful comic book The Sandman for the screen. He just had to wait until everything about movies, TV and media consumption changed before he could do it. ... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2022-08-05 08:00:00 UTC ]
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How Does Human History Blur into the Nonhuman World?

Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:54 UTC ]
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Twitter Users Emasculate Josh Hawley's Upcoming Book On 'Manhood'

One person joked that he was pretty sure the Missouri Senator's book would "fall well short of expectations." Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2022-07-28 23:29:02 UTC ]
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How to watch actor Jennifer Grey at the L.A. Times Book Club

Jennifer Grey discusses her bestselling memoir, "Out of the Corner," and the "Dirty Dancing" sequel. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-27 22:08:56 UTC ]
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17 Novels That Would Make Great Graphic Novels

These stories, including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, are great in prose, but they are crying out for a graphic novel adaptation to bring the visuals to life. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-07-26 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Six Americans Make the Booker Prize Longlist

The longlist for the Booker Prize has been announced, including six American authors: Hernan Diaz, Percival Everett, Karen Joy Fowler, Leila Mottley, Selby Wynn Schwartz, and Elizabeth Strout. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Keanu Reeves' comic book makes history

BRZRKR becomes the first comic book to feature in Comic-Con's prestigious Hall H. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2022-07-23 23:09:26 UTC ]
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In Lawrence Osborne’s novels, tourists can’t escape their true natures

"The Forgiven" author Lawrence Osborne discusses the impulses that drive his fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-22 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Fun, Feel-Good, & Empowering Middle Grade and YA Science Fiction and Fantasy

These middle grade and young adult science fiction and fantasy books are empowering and fun, and will provide the best light-hearted escape, like The Lost Ryū by Emi Watanabe Cohen. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-07-20 10:33:00 UTC ]
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“I Did Not Get Anywhere Until I Became a True Literary Citizen.” Courtney Maum on Making a Writing Career

I remember the first time I met Courtney Maum. It was nearly ten years ago, a spring or maybe summer day in Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens. We were both in our twenties, no books published yet, just a few free essays here and there, just starting our writing careers with the fierce intensity of Jack... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-18 08:52:29 UTC ]
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Kickstarter Campaign Makes 'Peculiar Tastes' a Broad Success

A six-book erotica series, launched by the hosts of the 'Bonkers Romance' podcast, has shattered its initial funding goals, raising roughly 35 times what its creators initially hoped, with weeks still to go in its campaign. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Brands can make Hollywood-level entertainment. This guy proved it

Jae Goodman has spent 16 years convincing brands like Nike, eBay, Doritos, and Chipotle to forgo ads and make content that entertains us instead. It all seemingly happened in a flash for Observatory CEO Jae Goodman. First, on June 9, Apple TV+ announced a multiyear deal with Nike’s Waffle Iron... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2022-07-16 07:00:30 UTC ]
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A collection that captures baseball’s heroes, and their human stories

Columns by Ira Berkow go beyond the statistics to describe the essence of the game and those who have played it. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-15 12:00:28 UTC ]
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8 Mystery/Thriller Novels to Make You Ask When Libraries and Bookstores Got So Sus

We know and love the magic and power of the library and the bookstore. But...what happens when things go sideways in them? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-07-15 10:38:00 UTC ]
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An 'emotional' Jennifer Grey opens up about how abortion changed her life

The 'Dirty Dancing' star discusses the upcoming sequel, her memoir and the Supreme Court's 'fundamentally wrong' abortion ruling. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-14 14:00:17 UTC ]
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Walmart Live Book Club to Make Debut on TalkShopLive

Casey McQuiston's 'I Kissed Shara Wheeler' will be the first title featured in the Walmart Live Book Club, with McQuiston appearing on the TalkShopLive platform tonight. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Audiobook Publisher RBmedia Makes Two Purchases

Audiobook publisher RBmedia has acquired the audiobook business of Upfront Books and the French company Éditions Thélème. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In ‘Florida Woman,’ wild animals aren’t as unpredictable as the humans

In Deb Rogers's debut novel, a woman arrested for a petty crime tries to start over at a wild animal sanctuary. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-05 13:17:51 UTC ]
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Good historical fiction is not just about factual accuracy, but the details of human experience too

When it comes to writing historical fiction, one author finds that it’s the very human details that resonate with the reader. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2022-07-01 15:38:42 UTC ]
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