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Geek Girl Authority
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Just Emilia Archives
Categories Select Category Games GGA Columns Movies Stuff We Like The Daily Bugle TV & Streaming Geek Girl Authority reviews Jennifer Oko's third novel, Just Emilia, a speculative novel about a woman facing her past and future.
Boston Globe
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Lynn Freed, South African writer with a wry style, dies at 79
'If Joan Didion and Fran Lebowitz had a literary love child, she would be Lynn Freed,' critic E. Ce Miller wrote in Bustle magazine, describing Dr. Freed's writing as 'in equal turns funny, wise and sardonic.' Advertisement Raised by eccentric thespians in South Africa, Dr. Freed immigrated to New York City in the late 1960s to attend graduate school and later settled in California. Her first novel, 'Heart Change' (1982), was about a doctor who has an affair with her daughter's music teacher. It was a critical and commercial dud. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Dr. Freed caught her literary wind in 1986 with her second novel, 'Home Ground,' which drew generously on her upbringing. Narrated by Ruth Frank, a Jewish girl whose parents run a theater and employ servants, the book subtly skewers the manners and lavish excesses of white families during apartheid. 'Here's a rarity: a novel about childhood and adolescence that never lapses into self-pity, that rings true in every emotion and incident, that regards adults sympathetically if unsparingly, that deals with serious thematic material, and that is quite deliciously funny,' Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post wrote in his review. 'It is also the flip side of rites-of-passage literary tradition, for its narrator is not a boy but a girl.' Advertisement Writing in The New York Times Book Review, novelist Janette Turner Hospital praised the novel's keen point of view. 'Lynn Freed's guileless child-narrator takes us inside the neurosis of South Africa,' she wrote. 'We experience it in a way that is qualitatively different from watching the most graphic of news clips.' Dr. Freed returned to Ruth Frank in 'The Bungalow' (1993). Now it's the 1970s, and Ruth is married and living in California. After separating from her husband, she returns to South Africa to care for her dying father. Staying in a seaside bungalow owned by a former lover, she confronts past loves and past lives in a country that is, like her, in transition. In 'The Mirror' (1997), she told the story of Agnes La Grange, a 17-year-old English girl who immigrates to South Africa in 1920 to work as a housekeeper for a wealthy Jewish family and eventually finds her way into bed with her employer. 'The qualities with which Freed endows her heroine are fundamentally masculine, and through this comes a subtle but inescapable feminist message which makes 'The Mirror' more than a colonial family saga,' Isobel Montgomery wrote in her review for the British newspaper The Guardian. Lynn Ruth Freed was born on July 18, 1945, in Durban, South Africa. Her parents, Harold and Anne (Moshal) Freed, ran a theater company. They were certainly characters. Advertisement 'As childhoods go, it would be hard to imagine a better one for a writer,' Holly Brubach wrote in the Times, reviewing Dr. Freed's essay collection 'Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home' (2005). 'The youngest of three girls, Freed was born into a family presided over by a histrionic mother and a debonair father.' She graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, in 1966. She moved to New York City the next year to study English literature at Columbia University, where she earned a master's degree in 1968 and a doctorate in 1972. Her books sold well, but they were never blockbusters. In 2002, she won the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award for fiction, among the most prestigious of literary prizes. She also won two O. Henry Awards for her short stories. In interviews, she was often asked how much of her fiction was autobiographical. 'When I am writing properly -- which, I might say, comprises only a fraction of my writing time -- I tend to disappear into the fiction,' Dr. Freed said in an interview with Sarah Anne Johnson for the 2006 book 'The Very Telling: Conversations With American Writers.' 'What is the difference between remembered experience and imagined experience? I don't know.' Dr. Freed's marriage to Gordon Gamsu in 1968 ended in divorce. Her second husband, Robert Kerwin, died in 2021. In addition to her daughter, Jessica, she leaves two stepchildren, Fiona Zecca and Killian Kerwin; a granddaughter; and four step-grandchildren. For many years, Dr. Freed taught writing at the University of California Davis. She was also a frequent -- and popular -- guest at writers' colonies. Friends said her readings were always packed. 'She was beautiful, and she was fun to be around,' writer Philip Lopate, a close friend, said in an interview. 'Her voice on the page was the same as she was in person. Her writing gave pleasure, just as she did in real life.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Book Club: Let's Talk About ‘The Safekeep'
MJ Franklin, who hosts the Book Review podcast's monthly book club, says that whenever someone asks him what book to read next, Yael van der Wouden's 'The Safekeep' is his go-to recommendation. So he was particularly excited to discuss the novel with a fellow editor at the Book Review, Joumana Khatib, and Anna Dubenko, a passionate reader who heads The New York Times newsroom's audience team, for this week's episode. (We've also been talking about the book with readers online. Join that conversation here.) Set in the Netherlands in 1961, 'The Safekeep' is the kind of book it's best not to know too much about, as part of the delight is discovering its secrets unspoiled. As our reviewer coyly wrote in her piece about the novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 (alongside former Book Club picks 'James' and 'Orbital'): 'What a quietly remarkable book. I'm afraid I can't tell you too much about it.' Here are some other works discussed in this week's episode: 'The Torqued Man,' by Peter Mann 'The Little Stranger,' by Sarah Waters 'Mice 1961,' by Stacey Levine 'The New Life,' by Tom Crewe We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review's podcast in general. You can send them to books@
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Book Club: Read ‘Mrs. Dalloway,' by Virginia Woolf, with the Book Review
Welcome to the Book Review Book Club! Every month, we select a book to discuss with our readers. Last month, we read 'The Safekeep,' by Yael van der Wouden. (You can also go back and listen to our episodes on 'Playworld,' 'We Do Not Part' and 'Orbital.') It's a beloved opening line from a beloved book: 'Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.' So begins Virginia Woolf's classic 1925 novel, 'Mrs. Dalloway.' The book tracks one day in the life of an English woman, Clarissa Dalloway, living in post-World War I London, as she prepares for, and then hosts, a party. That's pretty much it, as far as the plot goes. But within that single day, whole worlds unfold, as Woolf captures the expansiveness of human experience through Clarissa's roving thoughts. Over the course of just a few hours, we see her grapple with social pressures, love, family, the trauma of war and more. The result is a groundbreaking portrayal of consciousness and a poetic look at what it means to be alive. This year, the novel turns 100 years old. To celebrate the book's centennial, in June, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss 'Mrs. Dalloway,' by Virginia Woolf. We'll be chatting about the book on the Book Review podcast that airs on June 27, and we'd love for you to join the conversation. Share your thoughts about the novel in the comments section of this article by June 19, and we may mention your observations in the episode. Here's some related reading to get you started. Our original 1925 review of 'Mrs. Dalloway': 'Mrs. Woolf is eminently among those who 'kindle and illuminate.' Mrs. Woolf has set free a new clarity of thought and rendered possible a more precise and more evocative agglutination of complicated ideas in simplicity of expression.' Read the full review here. This essay by the author Michael Cunningham (whose book 'The Hours' is a riff on 'Mrs. Dalloway') about Virginia Woolf's literary revolution: 'Woolf was among the first writers to understand that there are no insignificant lives, only inadequate ways of looking at them. In 'Mrs. Dalloway,' Woolf insists that a single, outwardly ordinary day in the life of a woman named Clarissa Dalloway, an outwardly rather ordinary person, contains just about everything one needs to know about human life, in more or less the way nearly every cell contains the entirety of an organism's DNA.' Read the full essay here. The writer Ben Libman's essay, 'Was 1925 Literary Modernism's Most Important Year?', in which he discusses Virginia Woolf and a host of other modernist writers: 'She is an inhabitant of minds. And the mind, in 'Mrs. Dalloway' and later, in a more extreme sense, in 'The Waves' (1931), is a kind of nebulous antenna tuning in and out of life's frequencies, ever enveloped in its luminous halo.' Read the full essay here. We can't wait to discuss the book with you. In the meantime, happy reading!
New York Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What to Read this Summer
Readers, get ready: Summer books are here. These are the novels destined to grow plump with pool water. They're the memoirs, biographies, histories and mysteries to lose yourself in while slathered with sunscreen or sitting strategically downwind of an air conditioning vent. They'll whisk you away if you can't escape and ground you when you're far from home. They're best served with Popsicles, peaches, soft-serve, ice water and lemonade. Cold beer, too. For some of us at the Book Review, summer reading is our Super Bowl and Oscars Night. We search for new and clever ways to wax rhapsodic about the joy of turning pages in the sun — or during a July thunderstorm or in a hammock or by the light of a campfire. (To be honest, hammocks make me queasy, and I've only slept in a tent once.) Beach reads are my bailiwick, and I've written about them so many times I now have to cross-reference previous dispatches to find out if I've already opined about my favorite chair (Adirondack), sunglasses (cat eye) and soundtrack (seagulls). But when Memorial Day weekend rolls around, I'm grateful all over again to toil in the realm of Slip 'n Slides rather than stadiums or red carpets. There's that stillness and lull, that sweaty, sandy, chlorinated, blueberry-scented sense of a break, even for those of us who are long out of school. Life's requirements loosen, the box fan gets lugged down from the attic, books beckon. The Book Review has lists of 31 new novels and 21 nonfiction books to carry you through the summer. Here are a few I'm excited about: Romance and thrills On the fiction front, I predict that Taylor Jenkins Reid's 'Atmosphere' will catch a big wave this summer, with its clandestine love story set in a 1980s space mission. Amy Bloom's novel, 'I'll Be Right Here' is as comfortingly titled as her debut story collection, 'Come to Me,' and follows a group of friends over decades and generations, beginning in postwar Paris. (Speaking of interesting jobs, one character works as a masseuse to the writer Colette.) Finally, I have my eye on 'Our Last Resort' by Clémence Michallon, whose last thriller, 'The Quiet Tenant,' stoked my insomnia at a lakeside rental with a shed not unlike the one where her protagonist was chained to a radiator. This time Michallon follows two cult escapees to a luxury hotel in the Utah desert. What can go wrong in a place with high thread-count sheets? A lot, apparently. Moms and classic rock On the nonfiction side, 'How to Lose Your Mother' by Molly Jong-Fast, is funnier than it sounds, and a tender, honest account of caring for an aging parent who happens to be famous. (Jong-Fast's mother is Erica Jong, author of 'Fear of Flying,' among other trailblazing and autobiographical works.) I'm also looking forward to Sophie Elmhirst's 'A Marriage at Sea,' about a married couple who, in the 1970s, were stranded on a tiny rubber raft in the ocean for 117 days, and Peter Ames Carlin's 'Tonight in Jungleland,' about the making of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album. And because it too has a Jersey Shore angle, I'm curious about 'Baddest Man' by Mark Kriegel, which follows Mike Tyson's complicated, often troubling journey from Brooklyn to Atlantic City and beyond. It sounds like an intriguing accompaniment for my 'Rocky'-style workout, a leisurely stroll on the beach with occasional lunges for pretty shells. For more: Looking for a new book to read? Let us help you find one. Tariffs Foreign Policy Immigration Middle East More International News Other Big Stories Peter Orszag, a budget director under President Obama, argues it's time to worry about the national debt. We need to stop being weird about people eating alone at a restaurant, Callie Hitchcock writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on a new movie from the creator of 'Succession' and Nicholas Kristof on how to counter Trump. American men are getting worse at friendship. Only 26 percent of men reported having six or more close friends, a 2024 survey found. Polling for a similar question in 1990 put the figure at 55 percent. 'Your dad has no friends,' John Mulaney said during an opening monologue on 'Saturday Night Live.' 'If you think your dad has friends, you're wrong. Your mom has friends, and they have husbands. Those are not your dad's friends.' A writer feels this in his own life. He once had a rich world of male friendship, but he now has a more isolated adulthood. He uses his personal experience to explore a broader phenomenon. Read the story here. Your pick: Staffing cuts could make national parks a mess this summer. The most clicked article in The Morning yesterday lists five state parks to visit instead. One writing class: 35 years, 113 deals and 95 books. Ask Vanessa: How can I help my children make dress appropriately? Parenting: The Cut asks, 'Should we give our kids fewer choices?' Trending: People are talking about the season finale of HBO's 'The Last of Us.' For those unafraid of spoilers, here's a recap. Metropolitan Diary: A whiff of glamour at LaGuardia. Lives Lived: Nino Benvenuti was an Italian boxer who was named the outstanding fighter of the 1960 Rome Olympics. He died at 87. N.B.A.: The New York Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to take Game 3 and narrow the Indiana Pacers' series lead to 2-1. Indy 500: Alex Palou won the race for the first time, beating Marcus Ericsson. Hockey: The U.S. won its first men's World Championship since 1933 in dramatic fashion, beating Switzerland 1-0 in overtime. Sixty years ago, when Muhammad Ali caught Sonny Liston with a sharp right 1 minute and 44 seconds into their title bout on May 25, 1965, a few things happened in quick succession. Liston hit the mat. Ali hovered over him, shouting, 'Get up and fight, sucker!' And, Neil Leifer, a 22-year-old freelance photographer, tripped the shutter of his camera. Read about what many say is the best sports photo ever taken. More on culture Mix Prosecco, Aperol and sparkling water to make an Aperol spritz. Shop the best Memorial Day sales. Protect yourself from ticks. Stop being so judgy. Take our news quiz. Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were beanpole and openable. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. 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