There is a novel about her, Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue by James Purdy, who was part of her circle. My first husband and I were lucky enough to own a painting by her (since sold at auction). Her work is incredible!
poster for april Myopic/Empty Bottle Book Club. The book is Narrow Rooms by James Purdy and the club will meet at noon on April 27 at the Bottle
Going in a different direction for April Book Club (Gay Guy Sickos instead of Lesbian Sickos)
“GMP, like other small publishers catering to women or black people, provided a vital break to new writers. It rescued forgotten gay authors such as James Purdy from oblivion…
An overhead snapshot of five books on a green table. The books are Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Rent Boy by Gay Indiana, New York City in 1979 by Kathy Acker, Narrow Rooms by James Purdy, and We Do This Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba
A little snapshot of what I’ve been reading lately. Still working my way through Butter, which I’ve been enjoying, partially because it has some resonance with A Certain Hunger. Has anyone read any of these? Would love to hear other’s thoughts!
Out Now! "The Lighthorse Police: A History of Tribal Justice" by Donald L. Fixico is the first comprehensive history of the legendary Five Tribes' law enforcement agencies. www.oupress.com/978080619649...
I woke in the night with a half-sentence on my metaphorical lips: ‘the limitations of form.’ It seemed to mean something of importance.
- William Carlos Williams in letter to Kenneth Burke, November 1945
Sad trombone
Books from L-R, top row then second: Folk-Say, We Pointed Them North, Oklahoma: Foot-Loose and Fancy-Free, John Joseph Mathews, And Still the Waters Run, and Ned Christie
Let's talk book history!
Next week I will give a talk on the history of @oupress.bsky.social (coauthored with Tom Kahle), "Book Publishing and the American West, Then & Now."
It's part of the American West & the Humanities series at OU.
Wednesday, 3/4, 1pm @ the Charles Russell Center.
Inter-library loan is like having access to the greatest library ever - you just have to wait a bit for the book to arrive
Tadeusz Borowski was an extraordinary, formative writer, whose main subject was Auschwitz. I am very proud of this forward to Yale UP’s excellent collection, translated by Madeline Levine.
www.nybooks.com/online/2021/...
My hand holding a copy of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. I am next to a bus window, you can tell it's slightly chilly outside lol
I'm being subtle on the bus
It's more important than ever to support queer writing, queer writers, queer readers.
Cocteau Twins Garlands
👇🍟
I am once again asking you to nominate your favorite midwestern book— published before 1931– and not too long —to be brought back to print. Like this one (which you should preorder)
Hello Towns! by Sherwood Anderson (1929).
some nice used books I recently found online, I cannot resist a Eridanos Library edition or Kate Zambreno. James Purdy and Joyce Cary are writers I have wanted to read. 📚✨
Just in time for its 100th birthday, The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein is now back in print from @dalkeyarchive.bsky.social
dalkeyarchive.store/products/the...
Like many others I was probably formed by Rob Reiner’s movies more than I realized. I met him once and was struck by the practical efforts he made to translate his powerful understanding of people and how they relate to one another into a more durable and kinder form of democratic politics. (1/2)
20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you one book per day for 20 days in no particular order no explanations no reviews just covers.
What’s everyone reading? I’m revisiting one of my favorites by a most influential authors: IN A SHALLOW GRAVE by James Purdy. His prose becomes poetry. Case in point: “… we both exchanged what was like one single, same terrible look, a look like two shots which met and exploded together in the air.”
Can someone start reissuing all the old James Purdy novels? The world needs to know.
Justin Spring's biography of Steward is a good overview, but I am also repeatedly surprised when reading biographies of other people (such as Michael Snyder's bio of James Purdy) to see Steward pop up as an important background figure.
Book cover: In A Shallow Grave by James Purdy
Our $2.99 Kindle deal is James Purdy's IN A SHALLOW GRAVE (1975), a novel by turns Gothic, mystical, and grotesque, and, like all of Purdy's works, a compelling read. Grab it cheap while this deal lasts: www.amazon.com/Shallow-Grav...
James Purdy, Narrow Rooms, 1978 / Champaigne, Le Christ mort couché sur son linceul, 1654 (détail)
It’s a cool anthology. James Purdy is maybe even more of a fave of John Waters than Rechy. Water wrote the foreword for The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy.
1. I feel bad for people who don't read. I can't imagine not experiencing Toni Morison, Dan Chaon, James Purdy, Ishiguro, Joy Williams, Kyle Winkler, Zora Hurston! Like ...
No Kings; Yes King’s Island.
Image of book cover. Blank cover with the text: "On Freedom. Timothy Snyder."
The paperback edition of #OnFreedom is out today. It preserves a positive argument about how to build a better country and has been updated to account for what has happened in 2025.
timothysnyder.org/on-freedom
A year ago, I launched my book #OnFreedom in a war zone – in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 35 seconds from Russian artillery. Today, I'm launching the paperback in Portland, Oregon. Which is NOT a war zone. There is a difference in the real world between what's a war and what is not, and between truth and lies.
I have seen the closets of men who have known happiness; and I must say they are quite a historical mess. So I worry when I see men well dressed in a pure fashion that they will be bad tempered.
- Harold Brodkey, quietly extolling stylistic "foppishnness"
