The New Yorker: Fiction

Rank #1: David Sedaris Reads Miranda July . David Sedaris reads "Roy Spivey," by Miranda July.

Rank #2: Tobias Wolff Reads Denis Johnson . Tobias Wolff reads Denis Johnson's "Emergency" and discusses it with The New Yorker's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman.

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

Rank #1: George Saunders Reads "Elliott Spencer" . George Saunders reads his story from the August 19, 2019, issue of the magazine. Saunders won the Man Booker Prize in 2017 for his novel "Lincoln in the Bardo." He is the author of four short-story collections, including "In Persuasion Nation" and "Tenth of December."

Rank #2: Kristen Roupenian Reads "Cat Person" . Kristen Roupenian reads her story "Cat Person," from the December 11, 2017, issue of the magazine. Roupenian recently completed an M.F.A. and is now a Zell Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

The New Yorker Radio Hour

Rank #1: The New Norms of Affirmative Consent . Mischele Lewis learned that her fiancé was a con man and a convicted pedophile. By lying about who he was, did he violate her consent, and commit assault? Lewis’s story raises a larger question: What is consent, and how do we give it? It’s currently the standard by which the law regulates sexual behavior, but the continuing prevalence of harassment and assault has led many college campuses to adopt more stringent standards. At the core of many new rules is the principle of affirmative consent: that sexual partners must verbally and explicitly express their acceptance of each and every sexual overture. The problem is that few of us use affirmative consent—even many of its advocates find it cumbersome in practice. Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and the president of the Social Science Research Council, explores this shifting of sexual norms with The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman. They spoke with the legal scholars Jeannie Suk Gersen and Jacob Gersen, and with the facilitator of cuddle parties, who compares her nonsexual events to “going to the gym for consent.” Plus, an interview with a climate striker. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, fourteen-year-old Alexandria Villaseñor spends her Fridays outside the United Nations, demanding action on climate change. But the risk of “eco-grief” is high, she tells the reporter Carolyn Kormann.

Rank #2: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the 2020 Presidential Race and Why We Should Break up Homeland Security . It’s hard to recall a newly elected freshman representative to Congress who has made a bigger impact than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her primary victory for New York’s Fourteenth District seat—as a young woman of color beating out a long-established white male incumbent—was big news, and Ocasio-Cortez has been generating headlines almost daily ever since. Practically the day she took her seat in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez became the hero of the left wing of the Democrats and a favored villain of Fox News and the right. She battled Nancy Pelosi to make the Green New Deal a priority, and has been involved with a movement to launch primary challenges against centrist or right-leaning Democrats. Like Bernie Sanders, she embraces the label of democratic socialism and supports free college education for all Americans. She has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She joined David Remnick in the New Yorker Radio Hour studio on July 5th, just after her trip to the border to examine migrant-detention facilities. Remnick and Ocasio-Cortez spoke about why she courted controversy by referring to some facilities as “concentration camps”; why she thinks the Department of Homeland Security is irredeemable; and whether Joe Biden is qualified to be President, given his comments about colleagues who supported forms of segregation. “Issues of race and gender are not extra-credit points in being a good Democrat,” she says. “They are a core part of the ... competencies that a President needs. . . . Where are you on understanding the people that live in this country?”

The New Yorker: Politics and More

Rank #1: Marianne Williamson Would Like to Clarify . Marianne Williamson, the self-help author associated with the New Age movement, has never held political office. But the race for the Presidency, she thinks, is less a battle of politics than a battle of souls. In her appearance in the July Democratic debates, she said that President Donald Trump is bringing up a “dark psychic force.” “The worst aspects of human character have been harnessed for political purposes,” she tells David Remnick. Williamson sees herself as a kind of spiritual counter to Trump, reshaping our moral trajectory. And she does have policies, which include repealing the 2017 tax cut and an ambitious plan for slavery reparations, and also tapping some surprising people for her Cabinet. Campaigning on her credentials hasn’t been easy: she’s had to debunk some myths and clarify some statements. She is not an anti-vaxxer, she insists—she apologizes for her earlier remarks on the subject—or a medical skeptic. “I’m Jewish,” she says, “I go to the doctor.” She does not, she says, even have a crystal in her home. “I know this sounds naïve,” she complains, but “I didn’t think the left was so mean. I didn’t think the left lied like this.” 

Rank #2: The Politics Behind the Anti-Vaccine Movement . Around the world, the number of measles cases is on the rise. Public health officials in the United States have put some of the blame on "anti-vaxxers," who believe that vaccines have destructive side effects and choose not to vaccinate their children. In some communities, school systems have made vaccinations mandatory, touching off political battles over personal and religious liberty. Nick Paumgarten joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the political lessons of the movement for the wider "war on science."

Audio Book Club

Rank #1: Audio Book Club: The Goldfinch. Slate critics Dan Kois, Hanna Rosin, and Meghan O’Rourke discuss Donna Tartt’s big literary adventure novel.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rank #2: Audio Book Club: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Slate editors Emily Bazelon and Hanna Rosin discuss the final book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Joining them are two Potter enthusiasts: Emily’s son Simon, 8, and Hanna’s daughter Noa, 10. They discuss death, loyalty and Snape's love for Lily.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bookworm

Rank #1: Ocean Vuong: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Ocean Vuong speaks of leaving his thumbprint on his new novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Alternate modes of storytelling are discussed, as are narratives without intrinsic conflict. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who doesn’t read English; it is about finding joy in innovative and creative survival.

Rank #2: Richard Powers: The Overstory. About the interdependence between humans and trees, Richard Powers found a place for the non-human in literary fiction with his new book, The Overstory. The reader’s interest and affection are captured by poignant and visceral characters who open a perspective larger than the domestic. Richard Powers says there is no separate thing called humanity, and no separate thing called nature: we’re either in the world, or we’re in some abstraction that will never satisfy us. Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The New Yorker: Poetry

Rank #1: John Ashbery Reads Charles Simic . John Ashbery reads Charles Simic and his own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.

Rank #2: Robert Pinsky Reads Elizabeth Bishop . Robert Pinsky joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Elizabeth Bishop’s “At the Fishhouses” and a poem of his own.

Library Talks

Rank #1: Neil Gaiman on Fairy Tales Revisited. This week on the podcast, Neil Gaiman, the beloved bestselling author of "Coraline," "American Gods," and "The Graveyard Book," joins us on Halloween night for some scary stories and thrilling conversation. He speaks about disobedient adults, why he learned to read, and his own reimagining of "Hansel and Gretel."

Rank #2: Joan Didion on Writing & Revising. The beloved writer talks to fellow bestselling author Sloane Crosley about the challenges of putting personal tragedy and illusory pleasure into words.

Popcast

Rank #1: Lin-Manuel Miranda On How Hip-Hop Influenced Him and ‘Hamilton’. Jon Caramanica and Mr. Miranda discuss the songs and rappers that inspired him and his work.

Rank #2: Listening to Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’. Jon Caramanica and Ben Ratliff discuss Taylor Swift’s poppy new album.

The Guardian Books podcast

Rank #1: Kate Atkinson on her new novel, Transcription – books podcast . We sit down with the one and only Kate Atkinson, author of modern classics including Life After Life and Behind the Scenes at the Museum, to talk about her latest time-bending novel

Rank #2: Michael Ondaatje and the Booker longlist – books podcast . We look at the runners and riders in this year’s Man Booker longlist, and hear from Golden Booker winner Michael Ondaatje at a Guardian Live event

The Paris Review

Rank #1: 3. I Was There (with James Baldwin, LeVar Burton, Morgan Parker, Dorothea Lasky, Dakota Johnson, Raymond Carver). LeVar Burton recreates the Review's Art of Fiction interview with James Baldwin; Morgan Parker reads her poem HOTTENTOT VENUS; Dakota Johnson reads a poem by Dorothea Lasky; and Lorin Stein reads WHY DON'T YOU DANCE, a classic story by Raymond Carver.“Soonest Mended” from The Double Dream of Spring by John Ashbery. Copyright © 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966 by John Ashbery. Used by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author. All rights reserved.

Rank #2: 4. Missed Connections (with Marc Maron, Sam Lipsyte, Robert Pattinson, James Wright, Sadie Stein, George Plimpton). Marc Maron reads THE WORM IN PHILLY, a story by Sam Lipsyte; Robert Pattinson reads a poem by James Wright; George Plimpton recalls a boxing match in Hemingway's dining room; and Sadie Stein shares a true story about missed connections.

Radio Atlantic

Rank #1: The Great Recession, One Decade Later. In December 2007, the U.S. marked the beginning of its longest recession since World War II. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency born in the ashes of the nation's economic downturn, is under new leadership that promises big changes. Meanwhile, a tax plan speeding through Congress could have far-reaching effects on the economy, well beyond taxes. On paper, the U.S. economy looks robust. But for whom, and for how long?This week, Annie Lowrey and Alana Semuels join our hosts to look at what's happened in the decade since the Great Recession, and what's happening now. What lessons have we learned from the crisis? And which are we doomed to repeat?Links:- "The Never-Ending Foreclosure" (Alana Semuels, December 1, 2017)- "The Great Recession Is Still With Us" (Annie Lowrey, December 1, 2017)- “The GOP Targets America’s Most Loved and Hated Tax Break” (Alana Semuels, November 2, 2017)- “The U.S. Isn’t Prepared for the Next Recession” (Annie Lowrey, October 31, 2017)- “Mick Mulvaney Is Pretending Everything's Totally Normal at Work” (Gillian B. White, November 28, 2017)- “Could a Tax Fix the Gig Economy?” (Alana Semuels, November 6, 2017)- “Trump Says His Tax Plan Won't Benefit the Rich—He's Exactly Wrong” (Annie Lowrey, September 29, 2017)- "Could a Memo by Christina Romer Have Saved the Economy?" (John Hudson, February 22, 2012)- “The Fight Over the CFPB Reveals the Broken State of American Politics” (David A. Graham, November 28, 2017)- "The Shadow of the Stimulus" (Ross Douthat, February 1, 2009)- "Return of the Shopping Avenger" (Jeffrey Goldberg, December 1, 2009)- The Half Has Never Been Told  (Edward Baptist)- The Unwinding (George Packer)- "The Nutshell Studies" (Katie Mingle, 99 Percent Invisible)- "The Reason This 'Racist Soap Dispenser' Doesn't Work on Black Skin" (Max Plenke, Mic.com, September 9, 2015)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rank #2: Is the Presidency Broken?. “We are a president-obsessed nation, so much so that we undermine the very idea of our constitutional democracy,” writes John Dickerson in his May cover story in The Atlantic. “No one man—or woman—can possibly represent the varied, competing interests of 327 million citizens.” Have we heaped so much upon the president that the job has become impossible? Is Trump testing the office in valuable ways? And if the presidency is broken, how do we fix it?Links- "The Hardest Job in the World" (John Dickerson, May 2018 Issue)- “Scott Pruitt Bypassed the White House to Give Big Raises to Favorite Aides” (Elaina Plott and Robinson Meyer, April 3, 2018)- "Letter to Joseph Hooker from Lincoln, January 26, 1863" (Library of Congress)- Educated (Tara Westover, 2018)- Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It (Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik, 2018)- Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders, 2017)- “There’s Something Funny About Tiffany Haddish” (Caity Weaver, GQ, March 26, 2018)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longform

Rank #1: Episode 168: Ta-Nehisi Coates. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. His latest book, Between the World and Me, just won the National Book Award. “When I first came to New York, I couldn't see any of this. I felt like a complete washout. I was in my little apartment, eating donuts and playing video games. The only thing I was doing good with my life was being a father and a husband. That was it. David [Carr] was a big shot. And he would call me in, just out of the blue, to have lunch. I was so low at that point. ... He said, ​I think you're a great bet. ... He was remembering people who had invested in him when he was low. That more than anything is why I'm sad he's not here for all of this. Because it's for him. It's to say to him, ​you were right​.” Please become a Longform Supporter. Make your contribution here. Thanks to MailChimp, Casper, Squarespace, MasterClass, and "The Message" for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @tanehisicoates Longform Podcast #7: Ta-Nehisi Coates Longform Podcast #97: Ta-Nehisi Coates Coates on Longform Coates' The Atlantic archive [5:00] "A Letter To My Son" (The Atlantic • Jul 2015) [12:00] "To Raise, Love, and Lose a Black Child" (The Atlantic • Oct 2014) [12:00] "The Case for Reparations" (The Atlantic • June 2014) [31:00] Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow • Random House • 1975) [33:00] The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin • Dial Press • 1963) [38:00] "The Really Big One" (Kathryn Schulz • New Yorker • July 2015) [40:00] "The Black Experience Isn't Just About Men" (Shani O. Hilton • Buzzfeed • July 2015) [42:00] "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration" (The Atlantic • Oct 2015) [47:00] "Ta-Nehisi Coates to Write Black Panther Comic for Marvel" (George Gene Gustines • New York Times • Sept 2015) [53:00] "'This Is How We Lost to the White Man': The Audacity of Bill Cosby's Black Conservatism" (The Atlantic • May 2008) [54:00] "American Girl" (The Atlantic • Jan/Feb 2009) [59:00] "How ESPN's Fear Of The Truth Defeated 'Black Grantland'" (Greg Howard • Deadspin • Oct 2015)

Rank #2: Episode 159: Ira Glass. Ira Glass is the host and executive producer of This American Life. “You can only have so many questions about feelings, I think. At some point people are just like alright, enough with the feelings.” Thanks to MailChimp, EA SPORTS FIFA 16, Fracture, and FRONTLINE's "My Brother's Bomber for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @iraglass Out on the Wire (Jessica Abel • Broadway Books • 2015) [10:00] "1: New Beginnings" (This American Life • Nov 1995) [14:00] Serial [21:00] "75: Kindness of Strangers" (This American Life • Nov 1995) [27:00] Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host [28:00] "480: Human Sacrifice" (This American Life • Nov 2012) [30:00] "562: The Problem We All Live With" (Nikole Hannah-Jones • This American Life • July 2015) [31:00] "564: Too Soon" (This American Life • Aug 2015) [31:00] "565: Lower 9+10" (This American Life • Aug 2015) [35:00] "513: 129 Cars" (This American Life • Dec 2013) [53:00] Longform Podcast #124: Alex Blumberg [54:00] Conan's Farewell Speech

All the Books!

Rank #1: 188: 188: Favorite Books of 2018, Part 1. This week, Liberty and Rebecca discuss An American Marriage, Air Traffic, The Parking Lot Attendant, and more great books.This episode was sponsored by True Story, Penguin Random House Audio, and GH Mumm Champagne.

Rank #2: 224: New Releases and More for September 3, 2019. This week, Liberty and Rebecca discuss Butterfly Yellow, Revolution of the Soul, Cold Storage, and more great books.This episode was sponsored by Book Riot's Mystery/Thriller giveaway;  Sourcebooks, publishers of Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna; and Small Silent Things by Robin Page.Pick up an All the Books! 200th episode commemorative item here.Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, iTunes, or Spotify and never miss a beat book.Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news.Books discussed on the show:Cold Storage: A Novel by David KoeppThe Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni MorrisonThe Grammarians: A Novel by Cathleen SchineHow to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together by Dan Kois Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha LaiRevolution of the Soul: Awaken to Love Through Raw Truth, Radical Healing, and Conscious Action by Seane CornThis Tender Land: A Novel by William Kent KruegerModern Love, Revised and Updated: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption by Daniel Jones, Andrew Rannells, et al.What we're reading:The Glass Woman: A Novel by Caroline LeaWhere the Crawdads Sing by Delia OwensMore books out this week:My Jasper June by Laurel SnyderLaughing with Obama: A Photographic Look Back at the Enduring Wit and Spirit of President Barack Obama by M. SweeneyScan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked by Marcia BiedermanKill Monster by Sean DoolittleTaboo by Kim ScottThe Stylist Takes Manhattan by Rosie NixonThe Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace by Patricia WiltshireWe Speak in Storms by Natalie LundThe Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven by Ellen DatlowTaina by Ernesto QuiñonezWork for It: A Small Town MM Romance by Talia HibbertThe Mythic Dream by John Chu, Leah CypessHope Farm by Peggy FrewWhose Story Is This?: Old Conflicts, New Chapters by Rebecca SolnitGuest: A Changeling Tale by Mary Downing HahnTo the Lions: A Novel by Holly WattSuper Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike IsaacWe Are Lost and Found by Helene DunbarThe First Stone by Carsten Jensen, Mark Mussari (translator)The Other's Gold: A Novel by Elizabeth AmesThe Paper Lovers by Gerard WoodwardThe Words between Us by Erin BartelsThis Tilting World by Colette FellousNya's Long Walk: A Step at a Time by Linda Sue Park and Brian PinkneySome Places More Than Others by Renée WatsonThe Paris Orphan by Natasha LesterWord to the Wise (A Library Lover's Mystery Book 10) by Jenn McKinlayTunnel of Bones (City of Ghosts) by Victoria SchwabUnbreakable: The Woman Who Defied the Nazis in the World's Most Dangerous Horse Race by Richard AskwithBringing Down the Duke by Evie DunmoreAfter the Flood: A Novel by Kassandra MontagQuichotte: A Novel by Salman RushdieSword and Pen (The Great Library) by Rachel CaineA Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif AbdurraqibFly Already: Stories by Etgar KeretLoki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee and Stephanie HansMissing Person by Sarah LotzMy Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education by Jennine Capó CrucetThe Sweetest Fruits: A Novel by Monique TruongThe Chestnut Man: A Novel by Soren Sveistrup, Caroline Waight (translator)Just Ask: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor and Rafael LopezHow To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall MunroeThe Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina NayeriFive Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns) by Kendare BlakeTo Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky ChambersCantoras: A novel by Carolina De RobertisCaster by Elsie ChapmanSmall Silent Things: A Novel by Robin PageThree Flames: A Novel by Alan LightmanDominicana: A Novel by Angie CruzLittle Libraries, Big Heroes by Miranda Paul and John ParraDear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza MouliteThe Unkindest Tide (October Daye Book 13) by Seanan McGuireWhen Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl’s Book by Naja Marie Aidt, Denise Newman (translator)Here All Night by Jill McDonoughPretty Guilty Women by Gina LaMannaWe, the Survivors: A Novel by Tash AwRated by Melissa GreyBaking with Kim-Joy: Cute and Creative Bakes to Make You Smile by Kim-JoySerpent & Dove by Shelby MahurinThe Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne YoungChild of the Dream (A Memoir of 1963) by Sharon RobinsonThe Harp of Kings (Warrior Bards) by Juliet MarillierI Will Destroy You: Poems by Nick FlynnPermanent Record by Mary H. K. ChoiThe Glass Woman: A Novel by Caroline LeaStrange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. PérezRare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different by Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh HansbergerThere Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose PoolRewind by Catherine Ryan HowardWell Met by Jen DeLucaThe Secrets We Kept: A novel Lara PrescottMore to the Story by Hena KhanLalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada KellyThe Okay Witch by Emma SteinkellnerThe Nobody People: A Novel by Bob ProehlElements of Fiction by Walter MosleyAmerican Royals by Katharine McGeeThe Nightjar by Deborah HewittAll the Impossible Things by Lindsay LackeyAxiomatic by Maria TumarkinToday We Go Home: A Novel by Kelli EstesThe Third Daughter: A Novel by Talia CarnerKingdom of Souls by Rena BarronThe Long Call (The Two Rivers Series) by Ann CleevesPretty Guilty Women: A Novel by Gina LaMannaAll the Better Part of Me by Molly RingleA Girl Named Anna by Lizzy BarberAs a River by Sion DaysonThe Devil's Slave: A Novel (Frances Gorges Historical Trilogy) by Tracy BormanHurricanes: A Memoir by Rick Ross, Neil Martinez-BelkinThe Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar , Alea Marley, et al.

The Atlantic Interview

Rank #1: Ta-Nehisi Coates. The growing prominence of The Atlantic's national correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates means that he's often asked to comment on matters on which he lacks expertise, but he demurs. In a conversation with The Atlantic's editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, recorded in front of an audience at South by Southwest in Austin, Coates explains why he isn't interested in interviewing Donald Trump, why he cannot use Twitter ever again, and how his complicated feelings about America inflect his writing for Captain America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rank #2: Maggie Haberman. To make sense of President Donald Trump's first year in the White House, many have come to rely on Maggie Haberman. The powerhouse reporter for the New York Times talks with Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg about how her career covering New York City politics for the tabloids has given her a unique view of Trump. To Haberman, Trump's brashness and need for approval are partly products of his distinct experience of New York City.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices