Jim Hayes

Currently reading this excellent new book by Susan Cheever; a fascinating personal commentary on her late father's prize winning stories and the influence they had on many popular cultural experiences - e.g. she describes herself in the intro: "I am Sally Draper twice removed."

In a new memoir, Susan Cheever searches for the wellspring of her father’s genius—and digs through his secrets, Adam Begley writes.

I’m just finishing Susan Cheever’s new book, which made me remember a line from her father: “We seemed to be dancing on the grave of social coherence.”

Beautiful cover. Can't wait to read these stories by @joycecaroloates.bsky.social available 6.16.26

Joan Didion and Kurt Vonnegut Had Something to Say. We Have It on Tape. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/b...

The End of an Era at One of America’s Most Famous Artist Retreats www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/b...

www.theedgesingapore.com/news/cryptoc...

@joycecaroloates.bsky.social Hi Joyce, have you read any of The Booker Prize long list selections or short list finalists announced today?

William Orpen's radiant colours and his luscious textures celebrated not only wealth but sensuality, a quality deemed unnatural in the early years of the new century if you weren't Italian or French. This is his 'The Eastern Gown,' from 1906.

Just finished. Interesting novel using present day themes of relationship and unchecked altruism (with the flair of Albanian culture) left this reader asking throughout: did that person actually say that? Did I hear that response correctly?" 4/13 titles completed ☑️ @thebookerprizes.com

That’s the kind of phrase that condenses experience into language so precisely, it's philosophical. @joycecaroloates.bsky.social

Trump gets booed at the US Open today.

Several anti-ICE protestors on the Ohio-Kentucky border. This is how the police dealt with them. Literally beat the hell out of them. This is Trump's police state America, coming to a protest near you.

Just finished "Flesh" by 2nd time long-list nominee David Szalay @thebookerprizes.com A novel about male alienation and the vertical life of a Hungarian man who spent it as an outsider, never saying "no" to anything he encountered - all the way to the top and then back down again He only said "okay"

family-tended gardens of beauty have a sentimental effect upon me-- filling my eyes with tears. recalling the old "flower gardens" & backyard vegetable gardens that were so common when I was growing up. but some local gardens are extraordinary, home-tended, not professional landscapers.

I think this is my favorite sign that I saw at the #handsoff2025 protest in Raleigh:

Sharply written satire of the wealthy elite and working class in present day British society. Delicious and laughable ways cutting words are used as weapons in politics and the media. A great read - highly recommended! @thebookerprizes.com @wordsbynatasha on Instagram

You have to start to wonder if the interior decorator is actually trolling him.

Congratulations Birdie! 🏅

Saratoga recap

We Are Tech Privacy Reporters. Our Music Habits Got Doxxed. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/t...

What fun I had reading this wonderful picaresque; fascinating portrayal of academic authority, mentorship, and institutional power all rolled into a sexy romp! Rascals one and all. Highly recommend; a great discovery of this author for me; her previous works now in my focus @adremily.bsky.social

Enjoy a few moments of peace from Maine.

Edward Hopper - "Cobb's Barns and Distant Houses" 1930-33.

www.nytimes.com/video/us/pol...

www.wsj.com/opinion/here...

Thinking about "Audition" as "We Were The Mulvaney's" of 30 years ago. Family is a performance,within a construct. @joycecaroloates.bsky.social

The Anchor Bar's chicken wing origin story is well known. It also can't be true buffalonews.com/life-enterta...

New Yorker

A massive regressive national sales tax imposed upon every American by a president with no constitutional authority to impose a national sales tax. The reason why the founders gave this power to Congress is because this would never pass any Congress- even this one.

Recalling Psalm 109.8 today

Channeling his inner Evillene: "Don't nobody bring me, no bad news - 'cause I wake up already negative and I've wired up my fuse."

BREAKING: President Trump fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics hours after weak jobs report.