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A star turn for 'the greatest stage actor of his generation'
Simon Russell Beale looks back with wit and affection on playing Hamlet and others, and on the time he fell off a stage and crashed into a woman's lap
Jan 14
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Jan Harayda
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Letter from a Reader 1.12.26
Why I won't see that tearjerker 'Hamnet,' the Mock Caldecott awards, my favorite quote about Henry James, and book-review clichés I'm tracking
Jan 12
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Jan Harayda
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New York Times Book Review cliché watch #2: 'relatable'
Not everyone relates to a book or character the same way, but you might not know it from the NYTBR
Jan 9
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Jan Harayda
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Most Popular
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Oprah's Book Club is beyond redemption
Jun 6, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Why I quit reading Percival Everett's 'James'
Dec 27, 2024
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Jan Harayda
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Taylor Jenkins Reid's $40 million book deal is bad for writers
Jun 14, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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I made the mistake of reading a Booker Prize finalist
Dec 5, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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The New York Times Book Review has lost its way
Dec 15, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Katie Kitamura may regret taking New York Magazine's bait
Apr 15, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Recent posts
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Letter from a Reader 1.7.26
Did Wikipedia shamelessly name the wrong doctor as the real 'Freida McFadden'? Plus James Wood on spoilers, and is it time to reread '1984'?
Jan 7
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Jan Harayda
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The perverse appeal of 'Freida McFadden'
She's the top-selling thriller author in America, but don't read her if you don't want to know that doctors might have used Wikipedia to diagnose you
Jan 5
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Jan Harayda
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Letter from a Reader 1.2.26
The 10 worst book trends of 2025: Spare me the AI slop on Amazon, Prince Harry's details of his penis, drivel from celebrity book clubs, author photos…
Jan 2
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Jan Harayda
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George Eliot's New Year's wish for herself
A quote from her diary has some of her best lines that you won't find in 'Middlemarch'
Dec 31, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Letter from a Reader 12.29.25
Why I can't read John Irving even though we studied with the same wonderful writing teacher in college
Dec 30, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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The triumph of Carl Hiaasen
Stop calling him 'Florida's preeminent satirist.' He may be America's best satirist, period
Dec 27, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Can't afford to buy gifts? Send this holiday greeting by Langston Hughes
Two of the poet's gems turned up in a donation of his papers to Yale
Dec 24, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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Letter from a Reader 12.22.25
We don't need a new Jane Austen movie that has Emma dying in childbirth, the New York Times Book Review gaslights you again, why Carl Hiaasen made me…
Dec 22, 2025
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Jan Harayda
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