by Morgan Macgregor

The Secret History (of rereading The Secret History)

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I don’t sell books, but I sell this one. So, I guess that’s what I’m getting down to here: read this book. Read it now, in the fall, especially if you’re one of the unlucky ones who didn’t attend a private liberal arts college in New England.

Perpetual Announcements

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The kind of authorial conceit Dyer is talking about is anathema to my reading sensitivities, and one I often call out when I see it. It reminds me of (ahem) that moment near the end of America’s Next Top Model where Tyra Banks says, repeatedly, to a succession of girls: “The next girl I’m going to call is….Nicole!” Oh dear.

Wedding Vow Woes

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I know I’m supposed to put my sense of irony aside during nuptials, but I couldn’t help but recall the actual plot of Family Happiness, wherein the married couple soon realize how complicated, emotionally fraught, and full of compromises married life is as all of their naive, idealistic, youthful notions of matrimony are systematically smashed.

Follow Me Down – Kio Stark

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Stark uses equal parts force and subtlety in reminding us that behind the new-fangled office loft, there’s a decaying wooden water tower, beneath the city we know, there’s an older one.

Annoyed

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Outside of those few universally offensive behaviors (the guy texting in the theater, the shrill laugher in the restaurant), we’re all case studies in the science of irritation, and nowhere is that more clear than in our reading tastes.