Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Books

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Music

Arts And Culture

Danny Funt

Journalismism

How Bill Simmons Went All In

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

Interviews

Natan Last Has Thought A Lot About Crosswords

Defector Staff

Year In Review

The Best Things We Read In 2025

Brandy Jensen

American Cant

Becca Young

Maggie Nelson Sputters And Stalls In ‘The Slicks’

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Patricia Lockwood’s Inexhaustible Mind

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Kelsey McKinney

elyse myers in a yellow shirt smiles at the camera

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Patrick Redford

Thomas Pynchon Is Laughing All The Way To The Brink

Joel Pinckney

‘The High Heaven’ Is A Beautifully Grounded Debut Novel

<p>Jae Towle Vieira [they/them] works as a producer for Normal Gossip. Their fiction has been published in <i data-stringify-type="italic">The Normal School</i>, <i data-stringify-type="italic">New England Review, Carve Magazine, Passages North, Fairy Tale Review</i>, and elsewhere.</p>


Jae Towle Vieira

Here Is What Reading To My Child Has Done To My Brain

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<div class="gmail_default">Ryan Goldberg is an award-winning journalist and author who has written for <i>Texas Monthly</i>, The Intercept, <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i>, <i>Popular Science</i>, and ProPublica, among many other publications. Some of his best stories ran in the old Deadspin. He lives in Brooklyn, and leads regular walks for the Brooklyn Bird Club. You can find more of his work at <a href="http://ryangoldberg.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ryangoldberg.net&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1758917926877000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04lh06uBoaa598nfG5ro-G">ryangoldberg.net</a>.</div>
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Ryan Goldberg

UNITED STATES - 2023/05/31: Close-up of a barred owl (Strix varia), also known as the northern barred owl, or striped owl, in a park in Kirkland, Washington State, United States. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Birdfector

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<p><a href="https://tomwhyman.com/">Tom Whyman</a> is a British philosopher.</p>


Tom Whyman

Werner Herzog’s New Book Tackles The Problem Of Truth

YONKERS, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11: A view of autumn foliage at the Untermyer Park and Gardens over the Hudson Valley on November 11, 2021 near New York City.

Erin Somers On The State Of Literary Fiction, Hudson Valley Life, And Reviving The Infidelity Novel

The Blog Of The South

<p>Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes <a href="https://www.404media.co/author/becky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.404media.co/author/becky/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740083778769000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_mk31dNhas5lklZb38a6k">The Abstract</a>, a weekly science column for 404 Media. Her book <em>First Contact</em>, about the search for alien life, <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/becky-ferreira/first-contact/9781523527755/">is available now.</a></p>


Becky Ferreira

National Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, New Mexico (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Science

A Brief History Of Martian Ruckuses

Nick Sturm

Good Riddance To ‘The Best American Poetry’

Soraya Roberts

To Artistic Freedom: The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life’s Problems

Tom Ley

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Luis Paez-Pumar

Defector Reads A Book: The Art of Fielding

The Art Of Reading

Lauren Theisen

Birch boletus - edible mushrooms on moss (Leccinum scabrum)

My Favorite Part Of ‘Anna Karenina’ Is The Guy Who Can’t Stop Himself From Talking About Mushrooms

Annie Berke

‘Ugh! As If!’ Takes On The Enduring Appeal Of ‘Clueless’

black and white photo of a man with a pipe lounging with a book

How Do I Find A Non-Fiction Book I Won’t Hate?

<p>Emily Zhou is the author of <em>Girlfriends</em><i>, </i>which won the Publishing Triangle’s Leslie Feinberg Award and was nominated for a Lambda<i>. </i>She edits books at LittlePuss Press and short fiction at <em>Joyland Magazine</em><i>.</i></p>


Emily Zhou

Nerves, Nerves, Nerves

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<p>Robert Rubsam writes fiction and nonfiction. His work has appeared in the NYT Magazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Baffler, and Liberties. He is a contributing writer for Commonweal Magazine.</p>
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Robert Rubsam

Craig Finn attends "A New York Evening With Margo Price" at The Greene Space on June 16, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Finn Can Write A Great Song, But Can He Write A Good Short Story?

Bills Week

William F. Buckley’s Bill Never Came Due