Democrats should reintroduce War Powers Resolution ASAP in Congress. Could at least force Republicans to explain why they're not open to putting any limitations at all on a megalomaniacal war leader.

Now do the guy attacking Dunkin, among the 10000 other much worse things. Thx.

“Maciel’s novel also reads like a scrapbook or family album of a Brazilian city, in this case Rio de Janeiro.” Read @coryoldweiler.bsky.social on THERE'S NO POINT IN DYING by Francisco Maciel 💥 Out now via @newvesselpress.bsky.social southwestreview.com/scrapbook-of...

For @southwestreview.bsky.social I wrote about Francisco Maciel’s THERE’S NO POINT IN DYING, trans. by Bruna Dantas Lobato, a novel that reminded me a bit of the work of another Brazilian, Kleber Mendonça Filho, in its depiction of a city through an agglomeration of the lives of its characters.

One can only hope that we live long enough to see it for every single one of these hateful, evil clowns and every republican who enabled them.

@jencalleja.bsky.social apologies for asking but are there plans for a digital version of FAIR? For various lifestyle reasons, I can only really comfortably acquire ebooks. I’m not averse to shipping a physical copy overseas then donating it to a used book store, but will wait if an ebook is coming.

@jowrotethis.bsky.social House of R deep-dive recording once Mal recovers I assume/hope?

Honestly the world is all bad and this still infuriates me.

What they want is another place to build real estate and make money. They don’t give a shit about the people actually living there.

Respectfully, I’d fire the person who wrote this. “An immediate all senators classified briefing”??? You should probably also fire whoever read it and said, “Sure, this looks perfect.”

Love the rollercoaster ride of getting a positive response back from a new outlet only to reach the bottom of the email and read “btw we don’t pay you”… How do critics write for no money?? I guess if you’re married or wealthy you can just devote 10–30 hours for free?

NYT games app is one more puzzle shoved in at the top away from losing me…

As someone whose NHL fandom was born in the Avalanche/Red Wings battles of the late 1990s/early 2000s, I will just say that hockey players don’t forget things. The choads who opted to reveal their true POS colors are going to be on the ice with a lot of guys who don’t forget.

Thankful time difference lets me simply scroll through the batshit insane embarrassment enabled and abetted by one of the two US political parties, an event about which the BBC reports “Analysis: Trump issues patriotic rallying cry with eye on crucial elections.” No one does journalism any more.

NFC how Industry managed to end up where it is after this latest ep, but Yaz lamenting that she’s soft after burning everyone in her vicinity to the fucking ground is probably the funniest line of this narratively ludicrous, extremely messy, somehow still enjoyable season.

I took this photo 6 yrs ago today on the northern edge of Firenze as I went for a coffee after lunch. Walking past the spot this morning I spied a lizard as it flicked its tail and hid among the vines encircling an ancient tree that once shaded the newsstand, which closed a year after the pandemic.

I’ve written more than 30 reviews for LARB over 5 yrs & yeah each paid $100, which is crap but a writer has to write. Never heard of most people in this article. Thought I filed some good stuff, but per this piece “working writers” won’t touch LARB. Cool cool. I’ll blame my stagnant career on that.

HBO listing the fantastic, gorgeous, perfectly cast adaptation “My Brilliant Friend” under the sub-hed Squad Goals (um, no) but not Based on a Book really tells you everything you need to know about how things are going in algorithm land.

“If you’re not enjoying it while you’re doing it along the way, you’re missing the train.” Tony Gilroy’s postmortem on “Andor” echoing the thinking that saw Alysa Liu win gold. I know our society isn’t built to take correct lessons from great artists, but we should start to listen to them better.

I'm sure CNN's reply would be, "Well, we're not going to be baited by his rants and tantrums," but you can't attempt to rebrand silent, complacent servility as a form of being above it all. Find the shreds of dignity that remain in your profession! Fight back! What's he going to do, call you names?

Also read these two spectacular books! Garro was a huge discovery for me thanks to Megan and Christina’s work. Her groundbreaking debut novel, Recollections of Things to Come, is also still available in a 1969 translation by Ruth L.C. Simms from Univ. of Texas press.

Read @coryoldweiler.bsky.social on Elena Garro's THE WEEK OF COLORS, tr. by Megan McDowell and Jazmina Barrera's THE QUEEN OF SWORDS, tr. by Christina MacSweeney for @southwestreview.bsky.social southwestreview.com/volume-110-n...

So. A globally disruptive, economically unsound, and whim-driven tariff policy turns out to be unconstitutional. Huh.

The dumbing down/simplification of the #NYTXW has got to stop.

Because they’re worthless, spineless, enabling pawns.

For the past 25 years, I’ve spent much of the year living and working about an hour north of here. I’ve known a lot of folks who went to school here and who taught here. I’ve been to concerts here. This is sadly not shocking, given everything we are learning, and yet it’s still stunning.

I was awed and inspired reading about Mickey Hahn, Martha Gellhorn, and Rebecca West in Julia Cooke’s STARRY AND RESTLESS, but it was bittersweet knowing such remarkable careers would never arise in our current journalistic environment. My piece for the @bostonglobe.com, which still reviews books!!

I really loved reading this book, which made me (once again) question all the things I never did with my life/journalism degree. These reporters should all be so much more well-known. (Also, indie film directors: give us a Mickey Hahn biopic please!)

Another review that I loved editing: @coryoldweiler.bsky.social on Julia Cooke's STARRY AND RESTLESS, a group biography of Gellhorn, West, and Hahn, three pioneering women journalists. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/18/a...

@richomalley.com @james-paton.bsky.social whereas I’m sure it was a completely fine and good and safe idea when we did this in the autumn a decade before cell phones and years before large numbers of tourists even went to Iceland. After all we found that one hydro plant. And the surface of mars.

I’ve often made use of this database, including once (see below) to highlight the vital role Alex has played in translating contemporary Czech authors, especially women, so I’m sorry to see this project end, though very glad it’ll remain online for now. Read Czech authors. And thank you, Alex!

I assure you Garro’s name is spelled Elena, but since it is misspelled in the CMS, this link looks ridiculous. Don’t worry about it! Just read the stories!! (And maybe even this review.)

At @southwestreview.bsky.social I wrote about Mexican author Elena Garro’s THE WEEK OF COLORS (trans. Megan McDowell) & Jazmina Barrera’s bio of Garro, THE QUEEN OF SWORDS (trans. Christina MacSweeney). The latter got deserved attention but Garro’s spectacular story collection sadly came and went.

The thrill of victory; the agony of defeat. ABC’s Wide World of Sports really had it nailed 50 years ago.

US military aid to Ukraine was the single most effective military spending we’ve had since aiding the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan. We reduced Russia’s military by like half for circa five percent of the annual Pentagon budget. That’s a goddamn bargain. And Trump has spoiled it.

To my mind, this is exactly the right take. AI has a number of useful applications but is being vastly oversold in order to make venture capitalists and AI company executives and investors richer. We saw it with bitcoin, NFTs and the blockchain and we are seeing it again but on an even larger scale.

Happy publication day to Urszula Honek's WHITE NIGHTS, translated from Polish by Kate Webster! Read a great review by @coryoldweiler.bsky.social in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social: lareviewofbooks.org/article/ursz...

Really happy I got a chance to write about Urszula Honek’s excellent Booker-longlisted story collection “White Nights,” translated by Kate Webster, which is now out in the US from Two Lines Press. Thanks to the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social for the opportunity.

I’m currently reviewing a book set in an era when journos and regular writer-curious folks went all over the world to cover critical events and its so fucking aggravating that in OUR era where some people have more money than they could ever possibly spend we’re killing coverage of such events.

The hallmark (the “brand”) of the Washington Post has been accountability journalism. Thus, today’s staff decimation is Bezos’s greatest gift to Trump, so much more valuable than the Melania movie, inauguration money, etc. This disaster began, for real, with the Harris endorsement he killed.

Yes! @johnwilliams.bsky.social letting @robrubsam.bsky.social review Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost made a difference in sales for @sandorfpassage.bsky.social. Indies spend money on creating great books. It has become increasingly difficult to get readers to know about our books. 👇👇

I’ve never been prouder in my little book reviewing career than the day my first Washington Post book review went online in 2022. And while I didn’t make the grade when the new editor took over a couple years ago, I still dreamed of writing for them again someday. What a depressing shame.

Every time I revisit an episode or two of “My Brilliant Friend,” I’m so confused and saddened by the fact that it didn’t win all the Emmys. (And by *win all the Emmys* I mean *even get nominated for a single freaking Emmy*)

Some of the best small presses around! I reviewed 2 of the 4 in that picture. Christina MacSweeny’s trans. of Cristina Rivera Garza’s AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COTTON (www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/28/a...) & Natasha Wimmer’s trans. of Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s FALSE WAR (wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...)

This…

Textbook failing upward for these two dudes.

Every episode of “Industry” advances the story more than basically any other current season of television. We need more storytellers willing to take risks like Konrad and Mickey. (And I get the show is not for everyone, but their creative daring is just bonkers, especially four seasons in.)

Based on the brief Q&A I heard Kleber do after a screening of “The Station Agent” in November, I’m guessing this interview will be excellent.

Reposting this now that people are awake. I’m jet-lagged but trust me, CRG knows what she’s doing.

NBCC member Cory Oldweiler wrote about "Eating Ashes," written by Brenda Navarro and translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, for the Los Angeles Review of Books: