If anyone needed reminding of the importance of books, know that the LLMs that have rapidly become commonplace among so many have used books as part of their predictive persuasion. Nearly all ideas, good or bad, probably came from a writer.

A book I have been waiting for - and all the reviews make me quite thrilled to begin reading it.

If you’re an expert or reporter, I’m a nonfiction agent at Borchardt who focuses on ideas and stories that matter, whether it’s a big idea, history, psychology, science, economics, social issue reporting, or exceptional literary or creative nonfiction. Get in touch!

Terrific book. A new way to think about an issue I thought I had a good handle on. Essential reading from @jgienapp.bsky.social

Hoping to finish by the end of the year my book subtitled "How America Got This Way." To be published by Little, Brown.

I'm looking forward to reading this. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/b...

Lots to ponder in this piece. What’s Happening to Reading? www.newyorker.com/culture/open...

I am late in seeing this!!

Agree. From Borchardt client Arlie Hoschild, who has written incredible accounts of this era were in, from Strangers in Our Land and, most recently, Stolen Pride.

Sad to see this. When I first moved to NYC, I wanted to read books about the city, and White’s City Boy was a revelation. A loss for American letters. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/a...

Historians, if you’re doing important work and interested in trade publishing, please get in touch. It is an area I love, and am always looking to represent in, especially in the areas the discipline has historically ignored!

Can’t wait to get a copy of this!

Very proud of these two, both of whom won Pulitzers as part of their teams at the Washington Post and WSJ, respectively. It was an honor to publish their first books!

The blitz of news, coming hourly, in all directions, latched to social media’s ability to transmit thought instantly has made the “thinking slow” aspect of proper judgement - per Kahneman - pretty tough.

Can’t wait to pick up Cassidy’s new book.

Very excited by @leahlitman.bsky.social’s book! I had the small benefit of talking to her about it when I was an editor, and I was already a fan. Now its timing is, sadly, impeccable, but vibes is a pretty good summation of what we’re witnessing. Ordered.

Sad news. Years ago I worked on the paperback editions of his work in English, and though his reputation whipsawed in recent years, reading his work and being part of it in a small way was special. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/b...

Been revisiting Lasch, when I can, to help read between the news. This piece does a good job of synthesizing his prescience—as well as showing that some features of the moment are not new, just repackaged. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/b...

Terrific review and appraisal of Lynne Tillman and her new book of stories, by Jess Row: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

An interview with historian Nell Painter. Informative, incisive, and most of all, not irritating, like the news out of Washington. www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

This is a good time to remind myself that I run a trade deficit with my local bookstore, where I get books, and they get my money.

I never miss an Evan Osnos book! So excited by this.

Always ask historians. Some good folks here, and some tough and scary forecasts—though as @thomaszimmer.bsky.social notes, not uncommon. History may not repeat, but it accumulates.

In these trying times, my mind is like a page from Joyce, proofing his novel (I haven’t been able to verify if it’s real). But visually it is apt.

This is good

Grateful to Anne Applebaum, and proud to be at Borchardt. This book has helped me immensely make sense of the news, and unlike the news, is not confusing. A brilliant book, and a powerful lens into what’s going on.

Reporters, scholars across disciplines, critics—if you’re pushing boundaries, and doing important work, get in touch. And share with others, for discovering what books we can do is paramount nowadays. I’m excited to learn something new, and help you bring it to market.

One of my favorite books. I used to think it helped inform my thinking, drawing from the past, but to think of its continued relevance is a reminder, and a warning.

News, as they say. Granted, there’s enough news. But this one is personal. Books to be made, especially during these times. Now as an agent representing non-fiction of all kinds.

The speech writers today

I am old enough to remember, and in hindsight wish, that the Y2K internet blackout had happened, and I didn’t have to actually discover what millions of people actually do think, every second of everyday.

This book, despite being published decades ago, has remained one of the most interesting explanations for the country I’ve read. Here’s to more of this, in the new year and beyond.

“Joseph Epstein, in his memoir, “Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life,” said a career has five stages: “(1) Who is Joseph Epstein? (2) Get me Joseph Epstein. (3) We need someone like Joseph Epstein. (4) What we need is a young Joseph Epstein. (5) Who is Joseph Epstein?” - Dwight Garner, NYT

A well known agent told me the other day that a concern for those disillusioned by the election may tune out of media, and thus forestall the publicity efforts of new books to find their readers. I feel the truth of it, but don’t tune out books—they’ll help us through, as always.

Piet Mondrian, Composition, 1916.

Here is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, drinking coffee in a coffee shop. He will not live to know that people are using Chatgtp as therapists, and I for one am grateful for that.

It is indeed a brilliant piece, @rickperlstein.bsky.social!

A very interesting intellectual history and overview of translation, tracing its roots from Antiquity to the present. Inspired in part by Damien Searls’ philosophy of translation, who translated Jon Fosse, the essay nicely situates the translator’s dilemma www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

One of the ironic facts of social media, where information flies around, accurate or not, is that most is sourced, originally, from a book. Whether people know that or not is irrelevant; more so, it’s clear hardly anyone reads the source, just shares or engages with the information.

More a book editor than a website maker, but decided to make a simple site for authors, published or debut, who need help. Feel free to share with anyone who may need freelance help, and wants trade publishing insight: Pronoysarkareditorial.com

Martin Amis mused that after publishing four novels without much fanfare, by the 80s, with his fifth book, he began getting attention, though he does not attribute it to the public pining for novels. Rather, he thinks the media needed to pad the pages, and running out of topics, began covering books

Appropriate.

Paraphrasing from Chernow’s Grant biography, but of his taciturn nature, a general remarked that the former President was so quiet he would be “silent in 20 languages.” Good quips are hidden all over history, and often by people who aren’t famous.

A lovely Icelandic term for pins and needles (tingling after your foot goes numb) is stjörnur í skónum, or “stars in your shoes.” A Yoruba version is pajapaja (“kill dog kill dog”). And the best one I’ve heard in German (uttered by a friend’s child) was mein Fuß glitzert. It means “my foot twinkles”

I’m only resharing because I love this show, and I love the books and ideas and wit of @kevinmkruse.bsky.social

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901), Little Dog Lying Down, c.1888. Oil on panel, 32.5 x 41 cm.

I love Rabih’s work, and will be reading his latest.

Well, sad to miss this! Gornick’s Odd Woman in the City is a gem, an ode to NYC, and a book that has no “pitch,” and yet entirely delightful.

Percival Everrett’s James, which gave me so much joy, winning a National Book Award might finally be some good news, and that’s been hard to come by. Funniest modern masterpiece, and a brilliant study about code switching. Go read it.

I think it’s useful to remember fun words which have been co-opted by the internet, and made boring. A troll, for example, is much better as a beast that eats children. Platforms could be shoes, or a stool, used to get things beyond reach. Discourse, well, that never was worth much—maybe that can go