Max Liu

Day after World Book Day, going round slapping books out of people’s hands

Look What You Made Me Do — boomers vs millennials in John Lanchester’s London The bestselling author of ‘Capital’ returns with a dark allegory of intergenerational conflict

Look What You Made Me Do — boomers vs millennials in John Lanchester’s London ft.trib.al/Vhxav9R

Happy world book day, pay writers more!

A man asked me last night what publishing needs to do for literary fiction to begin appealing to men again. I said, as nicely as I could, that, with over 2,000 books published every Tuesday, of which many would appeal to men, it’s not a publishing problem, it’s a men problem.

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

ok time for another round of

"novels and capitalism, a syllabus"
____________

Keep thinking about this thread and the weird ambient resignation to Tory return to power in 2010. Nobody really wanted them, they didn't even win, yet they wrecked the country. I think the lesson is to reject narrative in politcs, deal in reality and what we actually want

One of the best documentaries of all time: a tender, warm, unshowy study of the threads from which communities are woven & the big-small moments that make up human lives.
It was a huge influence on Birding

The Face — from Narcissus’ glimpse in the river to the cosmetic surgery industry An elegant and engaging history examines how we have portrayed, judged and reconstructed ourselves

For this week's @ftweekend.com I reviewed The Face: A Cultural History by Fay Bound Alberti and learned a lot, including that the average person takes 450 selfies a year (I've never taken one) www.ft.com/content/14a9...

The Face — from Narcissus’ glimpse in the river to the cosmetic surgery industry An elegant and engaging history examines how we have portrayed, judged and reconstructed ourselves

For this week's @ftweekend.com I reviewed The Face: A Cultural History by Fay Bound Alberti and learned a lot, including that the average person takes 450 selfies a year (I've never taken one) www.ft.com/content/14a9...

John Berryman thinking about his friends. From Only Sing

I loved Nouvelle Vague, so funny, delightful and inspiring. Godard's quoting a highlight! Second time in as many months I've had a joyful time at the cinema thanks to Richard Linklater. Want to do a double bill rewatch with Blue Moon now

The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.

From... The Death of Book World
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

Here's the nub re. why newspaper book reviews matter

The ceiling falling through in If I had Legs I'd Kick You is even more stressful than the ceiling falling through in Marty Supreme. Things usually happen in threes so where will the next ceiling fall through?

Jude Wanga | The centre shrinks Peter Mandelson is a case study for the way the Westminster ecosystem protects its own until it is forced, by leakage...

"Peter Mandelson is a case study for the way the Westminster ecosystem protects its own until it is forced, by leakage rather than conscience, to eject them..." This by Jude Wanga, on the catastrophic failures of centrism, is great www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

Spotify Partners With Bookshop.org and Debuts Page Match Feature to Bridge Physical, E-book, and Audio Formats — Spotify Since bringing audiobooks to Spotify in 2022, we’ve helped listeners discover thousands of new favorite titles and authors while driving growth in the publishing industry. Today, we’re turning the pag...

I have questions. Firstly, what cut is Spotify keeping when someone buys a book through bookshop.org via its platform? The announcement says this "will directly support bookshops & the authors" but noticeably not that they will pass on 100% from purchases
newsroom.spotify.com/2026-02-05/b...

Great news. I love KS, B, being inside his world of paper rounds, school, travelling back from the hospital where his grandad's dying and noticing how the world just carries on... beautiful book

Overheard a teenager on the District Line say they read three "normal books" (they meant contemporary) then a classic. I think this is a pretty ideal way to read

Funny how on some days everything comes together. Finally saw Peter Doig at Serpentine - wonderful paintings of Trinidad, musicians, sound systems, gallery buzzing, recommended - then came home to this intriguing proof

A Lyric Nation: On the Uncollected Dream Songs by Shane McCrae September 4, 2025 – “The United States is a lyric nation. It has a geography suited to epic, and an expanse suited to epic, but it is organized in a lyric way—organizationally, the United States has m...

The gorgeously-titled Only Sing - 152 previously unpublished Dream Songs by John Berryman - comes out today. This is by its editor Shane McCrae (may or not be the intro to the book) is the most thrilling piece of criticism I've read for a while www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/09...

“Infinite Jest” Has Turned Thirty. Have We Forgotten How to Read It? David Foster Wallace’s novel, in all its immensity, became the subject of sanctification and then scorn. But the work rewards the attention it demands.

"The book had more brio, heart, and humor than I thought possible on the page. It was bizarrely grotesque and howlingly sad; it was sweet, silly, and vertiginously clever." Well said Hermione Hoby
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

There is money for "education" if and only if that money is being directly funneled to corporations. Anything involving actual learning, however, well there's no magic money tree

We need a national conversation about how deep down nobody really wants coloured vinyl

Not just you, extremely stressful film.

Thank you. I loved this book

I Need a Critic: One-Hundredth-Episode Edition The hosts of Critics at Large offer advice on crafting the perfect road-trip playlist, reading in a second language, and how to choose a baby name.

Naomi Fry recommends Gwendoline Riley's The Palm House on the New Yorker's Critics at Large podcast, and not just because it's short and the font is large. About 12:30 min into the episode.

www.newyorker.com/podcast/crit...

This closing line gets to the heart of the Trump project – a magnified, everyday evil that is only unique due to its scale.

List and Shout | Lydia Kiesling The labor involved in making lists was as close to the opposite of a transcendent reading experience as a disillusioned culture worker could get.

When the AI slop summer reading list dropped last year I knew I had to write about making book lists. Thanks to @thebaffler.com for letting me go long with bewildered nostalgia & regret on 20 years of Internet book culture & how we made the slop book list inevitable. thebaffler.com/after-the-fa...

Departure(s) — Julian Barnes’s ‘last book’ is a triumphant meditation on memory and endings In a moving mix of fiction and non-fiction, the Booker winner examines the struggle to find happiness and face life’s losses

Julian Barnes' last book, Departure(s), is published today. My review www.ft.com/content/2969...