I was riding the train home to Maine when I finished Kristen R. Ghodsee’s latest book, Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life. I found myself teary-eyed and tingly with hope, an increasingly rare emotio

It’s become maybe out of fashion to write books about women unraveling in the big city, but there's a reason why there are so many of those books, and that's because there are a lot of women unraveling in the big city. It's a defining characteristic

Summer has arrived, and with it, a glut of great books. Here you’ll find more than 80 books that we’re excited about this season. Some we’ve already read in galley form; others we’re simply eager to devour based on their authors, subjects, or blurbs.

Ganz vividly renders the early 1990s’ shouty yet blankly confused alienations along with the endlessly gassy and vituperative “whither America?” debates. The post Things Got Weird: On the Early ‘90s Crack-Up appeared first on The Millions.

“One thing all truths have in common: they are only visible from certain distances.” Angela, the protagonist of Jennifer duBois’s novel The Last Language, arrives at this conclusion from prison. It’s one of the many instances in the book that forces

I’ve been rereading books in part to test my squidness. The post Same River, Same Man appeared first on The Millions.

'A Question of Belonging' is marked by an unerring belief that a good story can be found almost anywhere. The post The Beguiling Crónicas of Hebe Uhart appeared first on The Millions.

Armstrong and Ellington, Coltrane and Davis, Gillespie and Parker, were central to the same project as other modernists; they reconfigured time and space to craft an alternative way of expression. The post Jazz Remains the Sound of Modernism appeared

In internet fights, people use this faux veneer of politeness, where they will veil something nasty with corporate HR language, and I find it morally repugnant. The post Juliet Escoria Wants to Bring Back Fistfights appeared first on The Millions.

"There’s no sense in a capitalist society that enjoying your life should be the basis for anything." The post Glynnis MacNicol on Marriage, Pleasure, and Orgasmic Narratives appeared first on The Millions.

"I think that one thing that's a factor of her longevity is her refusal to moralize." The post “Her Job Is to Show How People Live”: <br>Claire Dederer on Laurie Colwin appeared first on The Millions.

In 1972, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system officials commissioned Oakland artist Michael Rios to create a mural at 24th and Mission Streets. Rumor has it that Rios was torn between his passion for art and his loyalty to his communi

Judi Dench's approach to playing some of Shakespeare's most iconic roles was "entirely instinctive." The post Two Shakespeareans Take Stock appeared first on The Millions.

You’d think two centuries would be long enough for us to sort the singer from the song, to divine where the soul ends and our machines begin. You’d think wrong. The post Rise of the Ghost Machines appeared first on The Millions.

"I think that almost all of the work under the 'autofiction' banner is politically corrupt." The post Gabriel Smith Writes Like He Has Nothing Left to Lose appeared first on The Millions.

"I think too many people—and I include myself in this—find ways of staying insulated from that reality." The post Adelle Waldman on Her <br>‘Nickel and Dimed’–Inspired Novel appeared first on The Millions.

A night at the Freud Museum! The idea appeals. The post Night at the Freud Museum appeared first on The Millions.

"The moment the sex turns gratuitous you lose the tension, and therein the emotional investment of your readers." The post Yael van der Wouden Wants to Touch Everything appeared first on The Millions.

"I always have to check in with myself to see what I'm comfortable sharing, regardless of the form." The post Tajja Isen Is Wary of the ‘Personal Essay Economy’ appeared first on The Millions.

For K.E. Semmel, Jenny Croft, Idra Novey, and Bruna Dantas Lobato, translation was a crucial training ground for writing fiction. The post Want to Write Better Fiction? Become a Translator appeared first on The Millions.

AudioFile recommends 10 excellent new audiobooks for spring, including masterful new works from Hanif Abdurraqib, Percival Everett, and more. Whether you’re looking for a memoir told in the author’s own voice or a fascinating novel performed by profe

There is no experience of longing that is not, at the same time, an ethical revelation.  The post Becca Rothfeld’s Exuberant Ode to the Risks of Rapture appeared first on The Millions.

Is Salman Rushdie an artist or a symbol? Can he be one but not the other? Or perhaps it’s an all-or-nothing affair and he is both or else neither. Ever since Rushdie, the author of 13 novels, was violently attacked onstage in August 2022 at a literar

The marks on the page are the opposite of the marks on the tombstone. The post Elias Canetti’s Words Against Death appeared first on The Millions.

"I do think that we, as writers, owe things to the people in our lives that we care about." The post Lilly Dancyger Is Rethinking the Ethics of Memoir appeared first on The Millions.

Paul Auster died on April 30 after being the voice in my ear for a month. The post Paul Auster’s Voice appeared first on The Millions.

The classification of “Latin American literature” puts both Anglophone and Hispanophone writers in a double bind. The post Against ‘Latin American Literature’ appeared first on The Millions.

Welcome to the first installment of a new column where Millions readers can sound off on the books they’re currently reading. Tell us about what you’re reading—hot takes always welcome—and you might just end up in next month’s column. * Giles Goat-Bo

Walpurgisnacht is a gloaming time when the membrane between the here and the hereafter is more porous. The post Hymn for Walpurgisnacht appeared first on The Millions.

"It was hard on many levels, and I had to keep going back to why I was writing in the first place." The post Why Write Memoir? Two Debut Authors Weigh In appeared first on The Millions.