The Vatican, neurologists, and engineers all ask: what does it mean to be human? Maybe the answer is simpler than code. We suffer, we love, we endure. And that, still, no AI can imitate. europeanreviewofbooks.com/can-ai-have-...

The Vatican defends humankind against authoritarian tech… just read:

✊ ANTI BLACK FRIDAY ✊ Hé rebel! Tell all you’re charged double, because YOU are different. Pay €230 instead of €105, and become a benefactor — with tote bag, pin, stickers, but foremost: the honor of paying more than asked for. You are a contrarian hero. europeanreviewofbooks.com/subscribe/

10.000 — help! we have success ✨ Our newsletter just passed 10,000 readers (now 10,600!) — from Europe, Canada, India… hello India! 🇮🇳 So happy. We focused on quality writing + design, then got new team members, and now we’re growing fast — I may need to come back soon with a second crowdfunding…

Any fool can see the head of state is naked, a complete phony. I see The Emperor’s New Clothes referred to more often, and wondered: is it about the vanity of a leader? Or about citizens that keep nodding at what they know isn’t there? europeanreviewofbooks.com/current-preo...

Lenin youth is made to salute an embalmed dictator, becomes Catholic schoolgirl, then historian of repression, and writer on sabbatical in Rome, with a book on the Bulgarian gulag — plus she met Pope Francis at the Biennale ✊ europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

Eurovision? This weekend it is Intervision: Russia + US + China + Brazil ao And Europe? Europe is busy perfecting its eye-roll routine…

Train punctuality: 🇩🇪 #Germany: 70% 🇵🇱 #Poland: 80% 🇺🇦 #Ukraine: 95% Hard not to be humbled by this. Oksana Forostyna reviews The Train Arrives on Time by Marichka Paplauskaite europeanreviewofbooks.com/glory-to-the...

Sixteen children. A dynasty across Europe. Still haunting politics. europeanreviewofbooks.com/queen-of-the... (free)

One of the year’s best just got longlisted for the Booker: One Boat, from @jcbuckley.bsky.social Buckley’s writing really stands out. I actually texted him this year, and asked: ‘How did you learn to write?’ europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

Beloved Blueskyans, I need a little help —there's a reward. The ERB is growing: major universities across Europe and the US are subscribing. But we need more. Please forward, repost or email the text in the reply to who can subscribe. If you help, I hereby grant you the title of INTELLECTUAL.

Magic

Sunday reading: “How to abandon an archive. When an authoritarian regime collapses, what happens to the archives of its secret police?” europeanreviewofbooks.com/how-to-aband... on the archives of Syrian secret services (via @europeanreview.bsky.social, by @uungor.bsky.social and Ali Ajasem)

Unpaywalled: The European review of love itself. In « The great schizophrenia » Nikianna Dinenis unpacks Marlen Haushofer’s Killing Stella & the enemy hiding in those we have to love. Read « The great schizophrenia » here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-great-sc...

@sanderpleij.bsky.social texted with Daniel Gascón, Madrid-based editor of @letraslibres.com, a Spanish-language literary magazine. Daniel tips the writer Mariano Gistain. Read it here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

Adult content. People! We have adult content. Go to our website! Free adult content, now what about that?

Thread on Philippe Oehmke’s Schönwald. This enjoyable novel sheds light on an intriguing aspect of the German (and European) publishing psyche.

A 43,000-year-old Neanderthal fingerprint made headlines recently. But in Issue Four, Christy Wampole in her review of Trenton Holliday’s Cro-Magnon had already asked: what is « art before art »? Read it in our Library: europeanreviewofbooks.com/art-before-a...

« When Americans rip off other people, nobody notices. » We texted with Nell Zink, an American novelist based in Germany, about her novel Sister Europe and the fading hegemony of American cultural influence. Read it here: bit.ly/nell-zink P.S. those are @sanderpleij.bsky.social notes.

We asked readers how they feel about ripping open the print edition. It resulted in what we fondly dubbed « the great ripping debate ». There’s a good mix of considerable joy, some frustration, and the occasional papercut. Here’s our designer Patrick showing one way to do it: with postcards.

How to write about « our » way of life’s dependence on the suffering of other living beings? That’s in Tania Roettger’s review of two novels by Lorenna Simmel and Munir Hachemi, who each sign up for agricultural jobs. On learning to hate chickens, now before the paywall: bit.ly/on-chickens

« Definitely need him in ERB!!! » That was in @sanderpleij.bsky.social editorial note after texting with Milan-based novelist @vincenzo.bsky.social. Read their brilliant conversation on narrative-less present (and beyond) here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

What is to be done with the Syrian gulag’s enormous archive? So ask @uungor.bsky.social and Ali Aljasem, scholars of modern Syria. That’s what generated this extraordinary essay from Issue Eight. How to abandon an archive – now in front of the paywall. europeanreviewofbooks.com/how-to-aband...

« Drop the need to tear open pages in the print edition. It kills me » – that's some of the feedback we received from you. Thank you for getting back to us! We believe it's time we share some of the best methods for ripping open the pages. Here’s our editor Fernanda to demonstrate what can be done.

How to write? How to write a novel, a character? After his chat with British author Jonathan Buckley, @sanderpleij.bsky.social made a few notes. One read: « Mesmerising. » Read the full conversation here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

🤨 Does a story become less or more true when it’s told and retold?

Vatican City, a member of the European Broadcast Union, can participate in Eurovision. I see so much potential for the Holy Pope to win back lost and wandering souls.

Now in front of the paywall: when nothing makes sense, Palestinian writer Karim Kattan retreats to three unreadable cities – Bethlehem, Jericho & Jerusalem. Read it here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/bethlehem-je...

When we pick up a new issue at the printer’s, we often bring the ERB’s resident toddler. Still a helpless baby-in-a-box for Issue One, for our latest – Issue Eight – the preschooler could be convinced to climb a forklift. Issue Eight, everyone: europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue...

One of the very rare things I’m proud of is to have written a rather crazy piece for @europeanreview.bsky.social “One Last Round.” I am sure the rest of the magazine is far better. Don’t miss it.

Issue Eight is out! Subscribers can dive in online. If you’ve only glanced at the ERB, this is a good one to get lost in. As a first taste, we’ve unpaywalled George Blaustein’s review on the history of Schengen: bit.ly/double-negat... And Issue Eight: europeanreviewofbooks.com/product/issu...

FRIENDS New Issue! Out 1 May. Now 20% discount on subscriptions

This piece on pregnancy in the @europeanreview.bsky.social is just so good. europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-business...

I tried to pull together some arguments for why it's important for cultural journalism (think NYRB, LRB, @europeanreview.bsky.social, @texasobserver.org, @globalvoices.org etc.) to be funded: michaelerard.com/blog/why-cul...

In this photo-story, Satita Taratis, a Thai photographer and visual storyteller, documents the daily reality of the Thai village of Ban Khun Samut Chin, struggling for its existence due to the climate crisis. Read (view) full Parallel world in our Library: europeanreviewofbooks.com/parallel-wor...

Anyone has a phone number of Silicon Valley? I asked Al for the three most famed European writers. It came up with Murakami, Ferrante and Knausgärd.

Kapka Kassobova walked across one of Europe’s last wildernesses, formed by the Pirin highlands, along wild men – guardians of what remains of the 400.000 wild horses that were once living there. Read Of wild men and horses in our Library: europeanreviewofbooks.com/of-wild-men-...

What’s Europe Reading? 📚 Explore top reading tips from Julius E.O. Fintelmann, Editor-in-chief of The European Correspondent, and Boost your bookshelves! with @timothysnyder.bsky.social @emcke.bsky.social a.o.

The Schengen Agreement promised a Europe without borders. It delivered something messier. In the first peek of Issue Eight, founding editor George Blaustein reviews the story of Schengen. How to make sense of a pseudo-borderless realm? Read Double negative here: bit.ly/double-negat...

« Why don’t I feel at home? » Tomi Onabanjo explores this familiar sense in his review of Maya Binyam’s Hangman – a novel tracing a man's return to his native land, and the uncanny feeling that follows. Read No longer at home here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/no-longer-at...

What do King Leopold II of Belgium and Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II have in common? In his essay, historian Houssine Alloul places the two tyrants side by side in a tale that questions how the history of monarchies is told. Read Sick men of Europe here: bit.ly/twotyrants

*WARNING* ChatGPT and Meta AI-assistants included my Dutch novel in their data sets. In ‘Explicador’ a scientist explains why AI cannot think like humans + he reveals the essence of humanity. Is this bad? Have I messed up the world? Or maybe now AI can reason why it can never be human..

The painter that cut off his ear? Vincent Van Gogh —today’s his birthday— is archetype of the suffering artist, a messiah who died for his art, poverty-stricken, lonely, and posthumously discovered. ❌ 3 of these myths are false. He wasn’t poor, had good friends and was recognized before he died.

‘How can one rise above the fundamental unfairness of life?’ Today we’ve put online the tiny text-interview I had with @ecetemelkuran.bsky.social The timing is coincidental, this little interview was done last December and her remarks are about envy… europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...

Just read a love letter to Turkey's youth. @ecetemelkuran.bsky.social’s admiration for their collaborative action vs authoritarianism is touching. They bring her an answer to the global rise of authoritarianism. Can a youth-led movement inspire global change? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Stop telling me that Jonathan Franzen discovered Nell Zink. Start telling me that her new novel Sister Europe gives a highly diverting vision of a crumbling civilization. It’s BORING to keep linking her to her ‘discoverer’ Jonathan Franzen after 9 or 10 books.

Every reader needs occasional genre-crossing. Finish Noir brings good occasions, Like the novella: Troll - A Love Story. I texted with writer Johanna Sinisalo and she recommends more Finnish Noir: @emmielina.bsky.social, @paziij.bsky.social, Leena Khron europeanreviewofbooks.com/texting-with...