"The novel aches with the ambiguous grief of growing apart from friends." @ansonjtong.com's review of “Great Disasters" by Grady Chambers (@tinhouse.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/09/30/i...

for the chicago sun-times, i talked to some of the local musicians who signed an open letter announcing the removal of some or all of their music from spotify due to concerns about ai, payment, and the ceo's investment in military ai. they cite @lizpelly.bsky.social's mood machine as an influence.

voluntarily experiencing psychological duress this week for the sake of the plot

conan gray wishbone tour last night! photos by me, more on insta

This is such a low bar but it makes me so happy when I see groups of young men attending a concert together

“But why can’t I pay per article??” Because you won’t. You think you will and that other people will too but you won’t and they won’t. People hate them. rreisman.medium.com/the-case-aga...

I perpetually discount the value of time away from the writing as part of the editing process

I’ve heard from a lot of parents who are NOT introducing their kids to generative AI but fewer who are. If you are using generative AI with your young children and are open to chatting about it, please get in touch!

Albany Park Mutual Aid is accepting donations to help replace supplies and provide temporary housing for residents who face displacement tomorrow.

ah yes, politics, that realm of human affairs where drama and emotional catharsis are to be avoided

getting my flu shot

made an ice cream sandwich with two homemade brown butter corn oatmeal cookies and jeni’s sweet biscuits and peach jam ice cream and it genuinely persuaded me life might be worth living

I am once again asking you to stop sending us money. But we do need your time. ⏰ zohranfornyc.com/events

petition to rename lake michigan to lake cornelia

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

In the days after last week's Minneapolis shooting, I've been continually haunted by the shooter's video and the nihilistic contagion that seems to spread in mass shooter fandom communities. I spoke to @alexbnewhouse.bsky.social about how to process this terrible phenomenon w/o helping perpetuate it

CHICAGOANS: We're almost a month into petitioning season and we need to connect with voters all across the Ninth District. The most important thing you can do right now to help my campaign is volunteer to collect petition signatures at farmers markets...

how do i start failing upwards

made matcha crepe cake for my friend’s birthday!!

my neighbor was having a party on the deck and cornelia ran up and crashed it and made 20 friends/fans

I get so angry when I think about how thoroughly we could all—and I do mean ALL—be chilling right now.

this piece was validating in the most unsettling way possible

my photos of Caroline Kingsbury in GO MAG! gomag.com/article/from...

"Each story ends in a way that makes you tip your head back in bewilderment, a reminder that there is no base reality on which everyone’s narrative is built… Where Are You Really From sparkles in the way it infuses dark concepts with whimsy and detail" Tysm for these words @ansonjtong.com!

reviewed @elainehsiehchou.bsky.social’s new book of short stories and a novella for @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social! delightfully weird!!! chireviewofbooks.com/2025/08/19/a...

"'Where Are You Really From' sparkles in the way it infuses dark concepts with whimsy and detail." @ansonjtong.com's review of "Where Are You Really From" by Elaine Hsieh Chou (@penguinpress.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/08/19/a...

campaign poster sneak peek 👀

ok actually the solution to the male loneliness epidemic is for them to form bands

I am watching a football podcast because of Taylor Swift

finally learning to forgive coffee cake for not containing any coffee

read the gq profile of travis kelce for taylor swift reasons but came away with a lot more info about being a tight end than i previously possessed

the last two times I’ve gotten on the L someone has dropped big life news (engagement, pregnancy announcement) and now I’m on the L again and I’m a lil nervous

Health Communism is out in paperback today. It contains just one new endorsement, from RWG, which meant the world to us. “The authors are at once ahead of their time and right on time.” Get it at the link below to donate to Sameer Project, or pirate it online and donate instead

Just gave. Please consider helping if you can. Right now is an incredibly important time. Right now.

But the parents are so lost they don’t even realize that it’s not the classes that changed your kid, it was separation from YOU. No gender studies, sociology, or history class could ever accomplish what three months of not having to live with your bullies will do.

“Israel is pursuing an extensive PR effort to remove itself from blame for the starvation and killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is responsible.” Forceful and necessary pushback to Israeli propaganda by @peterbeaumont.bsky.social

half the time when i see a female artist or journalist being "cancelled"/attacked on social media it turns out they made such an incredibly normal statement that people are choosing to read completely wrong

i wrote about growing up speaking shanghainese rather than mandarin at home, and figuring out what my relationship to this dying language might look like as an adult joysauce.com/shanghainese...

made $5.23 off Instagram I’m an influencer now

Feed: "Chicago Review of Books" By: Anson Tong on Tuesday, July 22, 2025

i wrote about growing up speaking shanghainese rather than mandarin at home, and figuring out what my relationship to this dying language might look like as an adult joysauce.com/shanghainese...

went to yoga tn but my instructor kept trying to tell us to appreciate abundance and I couldn’t stop thinking she meant the book

Y’all. They used dental floss on mice.... for vaccine delivery!!! Not kidding. This is the type of research that keeps me so excited about science and innovation and why we should not be defunding science. www.science.org/content/arti...

a story i'm banking for the world cup next year is i want to follow around a european tourist who is here for a match and watch them try to get around houston for a day

interviewed Mariel Franklin about her novel BONDING, which is out now in the US. we talked about startups commodifying love and happiness, constantly texting, and moving beyond this vibes-based ecosystem! @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social chireviewofbooks.com/2025/07/22/b...

"Spend time on things that put some distance between the immediate pull of the cultural machinery and everything else." @ansonjtong.com's interview with Mariel Franklin on her new book “Bonding” (@fsgbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/07/22/b...

The only thing to understand about the pronoun thing is that just because something is outside of your lived experience doesn’t mean it’s not real or the person telling you is mistaken or you are being inconvenienced

my photos of emei in sixtysix mag sixtysixmag.com/emei/

PLEASE SHARE! I'm reporting on #H5N1 #BirdFlu (#AvianInfluenza #HPAI) for @thesicktimes.bsky.social, & want to talk to farmworkers or people who work with them re impacts of H5N1 on farmworkers. I'm especially interested in hearing re human cases since Feb 2025. Sources can be anonymous! (1/4)