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Book Post
@bookpostusa.bsky.social
A bite-sized, newsletter-based book review, sending subscribers well-crafted reviews by distinguished & engaging writers direct to their inboxes. linktr.ee/bookpostusa
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Hi new followers! ICYMI, we are Book Post, a by-subscription book review delivery service, bringing snack-sized book reviews by distinguished and engaging writers direct to paying subscribers’ in-boxes. Sign up here (you can also subscribe to our free Diary and Notebook posts): books.substack.com
Book Post | Ann Kjellberg | Substack
Bite-sized book reviews by distinguished and engaging writers, direct to readers‘ in boxes. Editor Ann Kjellberg is a multi-decade veteran of The New York Review of Books and founder of the literary m...
books.substack.com
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“Historians call this passageway a masterwork of deliberate concealment, designed to be absolutely invisible to slave catchers or city marshals during the 19th-century”
Safe house linked to Underground Railroad discovered in Manhattan
The Merchant's House is the first landmarked building in Manhattan.
ny1.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Recalling today to these immortal words from Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/e...
February 10, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Re-upping our prematurely jubilant post on the 2022 revival of @washingtonpost.com's Book World. Our aim in creating Book Post was to follow Becca Rothfeld’s call today in the @newyorker.com for books coverage that finds people where they are
A stirring defense from Becca Rothfeld--just laid off from the Washington Post and hired by the New Yorker--of the democratic importance of the newspaper book review, which respects its audience as true readers: people "you hope to change, convince, and surprise" www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post
Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.
www.newyorker.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
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(Though I repeat my complaint with such pieces: the NYTBR is *not* the last discrete newspaper books section. WSJ Books may be physically located within another section but it is nevertheless a discrete books section that publishes 10-12 reviews each weekend, plus 5 more on weekdays.)
February 10, 2026 at 3:08 PM
News from @everylibrary.bsky.social: Rebuking President Trump, Congress votes to maintain most of the federal funding for libraries, museums, and archives. www.everylibrary.org/congress2026... via
Congress Maintains Most Federal Funding for Libraries, Museums, and Archives.
www.everylibrary.org
February 9, 2026 at 9:37 PM
The thing with the Claude ads is they don’t really acknowledge how creepy the bots are even before they start advertising. Got anything for that, Claude? (✍🏼)
February 9, 2026 at 5:24 AM
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” —James Baldwin

In honor of Black History Month, we are reflecting on the work of the incomparable James Baldwin (the namesake for our current partner bookstore, Baldwin and Co.)
February 8, 2026 at 6:39 PM
“no one reads men any more”
Earlier this week, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Thanks to @vinsoncunningham.bsky.social, @mirajacob.bsky.social, @minjinlee.bsky.social, Colm Tóibín, and Jay O. Sanders for an enlightening evening, and to everyone who joined us!
(Photo by Nile Scott)
February 7, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Why aren’t more young men reading? Is it an issue of marginalization, as some have argued, or is it something else?
Book Post editor Ann Kjellberg digs into this topic, now on Book Post: books.substack.com/p/notebook-1...
Notebook: (1) Some Men Reading
Reading in a way that makes people feel like they are a part of something
books.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:49 PM
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Scoop: As Washington Post leadership laid off hundreds of staffers this week, exec editor Matt Murray blocked the paper’s media desk from covering the cuts, spiking a pre-written story despite internal lobbying

www.status.news/p/ms-now-cro...
MS NOW’s Crooked Play
MS NOW’s push into video podcasts is accelerating, with the progressive network now in advanced discussions to license popular digital shows for air from Crooked Media and others, Status has learned.
www.status.news
February 6, 2026 at 3:30 AM
Tomorrow
February 6, 2026 at 4:29 AM
“This is not good writing. It shouldn’t work, and it doesn’t. But it kind of does.”

Michael Robbins on Caroline Fraser’s Murderland, overwrought writing, and true crime.

Read the new Diary now on Book Post.
books.substack.com/p/diary-mich...

@alienvsrobbins.bsky.social
Diary: Michael Robbins on the Uses of Bad Writing
The flimsiness of the book’s thesis gives it a crazy energy, mirrored in its over-the-top prose
books.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:59 AM
February 5, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Book Post
organizations, and so they asked the arts organizations themselves what would be helpful, and they said to support arts journalists. Because the arts journalists educate the audiences. No audiences, no artists.
February 5, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Book Post
In 2003, I had a fellowship at the Columbia Journalism School as part of the National Arts Journalism Program (RIP). The program was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, because—and this is my memory from a long time ago but I think it's pretty accurate—they were looking for a way to support arts...
February 5, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Joy Williams siting: Honored Guest www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...
Seven Books to Read When You Have No Time to Read
These titles are worth picking up, even if you have only a moment to spare.
www.theatlantic.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:06 AM
Halcyon Days: Book Post celebrates the revival of the @washingtonpost.com books section in 2022, looking back at the history of the freestanding newspaper book review, now going the way of the dodo books.substack.com/p/notebook-r...
Notebook: Return of the Freestanding Book Review!
On the happy occasion of the revival of The Washington Post's stand-alone book review section, Book World, we take a look at the rocky recent history of the newspaper book review.
books.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:50 AM
“It's biblically bad,” one [Washington] Post journalist told Status, adding, “It will be a miracle if they can put out a paper tomorrow because no one is working” @nataliekorach.bsky.social at @status.news
February 5, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Ron Charles is/was my favorite person in books coverage. He combined natural readerliness with good humor and a human touch. This is an insane decision. WaPo was the best newspaper books coverage in the country. Bezos just keeps finding new ways to harm reading. Immediate subscribe (✍🏼)
February 5, 2026 at 2:38 AM
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The Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, announced that they're shutting down their books section. We'd say "ironic," but...

Keep supporting indie bookstores and public libraries over the mega retailer, aka the institutions that actually care about storytelling 💓
February 4, 2026 at 5:32 PM
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The layoffs at the Washington Post have begun, with newsroom leaders telling employees its sports and books sections will be 'eliminated in current forms' and its international coverage will be downsized
February 4, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Ooh exciting, our @404media.co zine is here!
February 4, 2026 at 11:42 PM
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Oscar-nominated writer Mehdi Mahmoudian arrested in Iran for condemning the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters in a letter signed by 17 people, including #FreedomToWrite Awardees Narges Mohammadi (the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize honoree) and Nasrin Sotoudeh: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/m...
Oscar-nominated screenwriter arrested in Iran for criticising government crackdown
Mehdi Mahmoudian signed a letter condemning the ‘mass killings’ by the Iranian government
www.independent.co.uk
February 2, 2026 at 10:53 PM
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As Tom Waits says, "The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering."
January 29, 2026 at 11:07 PM