Cory Oldweiler
@coryoldweiler.bsky.social
Book critic. Translated lit evangelist. Runner. Cinephile. Disillusioned vagabond.
“For I, you see, dwelling upon the rim of life, see everyone in the arena as acting blindly.”
“For I, you see, dwelling upon the rim of life, see everyone in the arena as acting blindly.”
Pinned
A new edition of an early Olga Tokarczuk novel is cause for celebration - The Boston Globe
Again and again her characters contend with the changing physical borders within which they and their families must live, in a world disrupted by war.
www.bostonglobe.com
For the @bostonglobe.com I wrote about Antonia Lloyd-Jones’ wonderful revised translation (“Mushroominess” FTW!) of Olga Tokarczuk‘s HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT, an insightful early novel that shows her playing with the complex narrative form that would reach its height, for me, in “Flights.”
@snell.zone thanks for mentioning a new Low Def was in the member feed, as it made me & my friend (re)join just to listen to it tonight while making dinner, a favorite tradition for many years. Sorry I can’t afford a year-round membership right now, but thankful you’ll are still around. Take care.
January 3, 2026 at 2:33 AM
@snell.zone thanks for mentioning a new Low Def was in the member feed, as it made me & my friend (re)join just to listen to it tonight while making dinner, a favorite tradition for many years. Sorry I can’t afford a year-round membership right now, but thankful you’ll are still around. Take care.
New-to-me director whose work is extremely my jam and one of the great actors of her generation.
January 2, 2026 at 8:24 PM
New-to-me director whose work is extremely my jam and one of the great actors of her generation.
Not strictly my favorite, but boy do I vividly remember it’s run at number one day after day after day as a latchkey kid.
December 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Not strictly my favorite, but boy do I vividly remember it’s run at number one day after day after day as a latchkey kid.
Love that on the last day of 2025 Apple’s (so-called) Magic Keyboard for its M4 iPad Pro still just randomly stops working as an input device. Here’s hoping 2026 is the year they finally fix iPadOS…who am I kidding all they care about is AI & $$$. I’m the idiot for persisting this long with an iPad.
December 31, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Love that on the last day of 2025 Apple’s (so-called) Magic Keyboard for its M4 iPad Pro still just randomly stops working as an input device. Here’s hoping 2026 is the year they finally fix iPadOS…who am I kidding all they care about is AI & $$$. I’m the idiot for persisting this long with an iPad.
Marty Supreme is a very fun movie but Everybody Wants to Rule the World belongs to Real Genius, show some respect.
December 30, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Marty Supreme is a very fun movie but Everybody Wants to Rule the World belongs to Real Genius, show some respect.
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
Need a reason to support Words Without Borders? Here’s five…
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
December 30, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Need a reason to support Words Without Borders? Here’s five…
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
As someone who both values what I read on WWB and likes getting paid for the things I write for them, this is a great reason to donate. There are vanishingly few outlets that pay for critics to review translated fiction, so if you can afford to help one of them continue, please do.
Your donation will allow us to continue to provide fair compensation for writers, translators, critics, and guest editors in 2026.
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
wwborders.live/2025Appeal
December 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM
As someone who both values what I read on WWB and likes getting paid for the things I write for them, this is a great reason to donate. There are vanishingly few outlets that pay for critics to review translated fiction, so if you can afford to help one of them continue, please do.
Fairly certain that today’s #Cinematrix is at least the second time that I’ve tried to play the (incorrectly) pluralized title of a certain Robert Pattinson–starring film.
December 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Fairly certain that today’s #Cinematrix is at least the second time that I’ve tried to play the (incorrectly) pluralized title of a certain Robert Pattinson–starring film.
Haven’t watched 60 Minutes for years. Didn’t need any more reasons to hope these hateful assholes get what’s coming to them, and yet I found some.
December 23, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Haven’t watched 60 Minutes for years. Didn’t need any more reasons to hope these hateful assholes get what’s coming to them, and yet I found some.
This is a nightmare idea.
Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere
"Bradage de la traduction, plan social invisible : Harlequin passe à l’IA"
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
December 22, 2025 at 4:46 AM
This is a nightmare idea.
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere
"Bradage de la traduction, plan social invisible : Harlequin passe à l’IA"
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
December 18, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere
The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go.
Really hope I’m the Belushi here…I think.
Really hope I’m the Belushi here…I think.
December 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go.
Really hope I’m the Belushi here…I think.
Really hope I’m the Belushi here…I think.
Honestly if we’re at a point when a NYT spokesperson doesn’t know that there is no hyphen between widely and attended, then we are truly cooked.
Statement from the NYT, which is useful context, but still feel like you gotta mention it in the column!
December 18, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Honestly if we’re at a point when a NYT spokesperson doesn’t know that there is no hyphen between widely and attended, then we are truly cooked.
Almost an issue worth shutting down the government over one might say…
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) on GOPers letting ACA tax credits expire:
"We live in the richest country in the history of the world. We have a trillionaire.... And yet we're being told millions of people need to lose their health care because we can't afford it? That's obscene."
"We live in the richest country in the history of the world. We have a trillionaire.... And yet we're being told millions of people need to lose their health care because we can't afford it? That's obscene."
December 16, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Almost an issue worth shutting down the government over one might say…
Not going to go all 2025 and judge an entire piece of art based on a two-minute marketing package but can we please go back to using real animals on film if all they are doing is standing in a field or walking?
December 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Not going to go all 2025 and judge an entire piece of art based on a two-minute marketing package but can we please go back to using real animals on film if all they are doing is standing in a field or walking?
JFK is currently a mess (at least for Delta) so I hope everyone enjoyed their ten minutes of “ooh the snow looks so pretty on the branches” moment this morning. (I grew up in Colorado back when it actually snowed there, so yes, I’m jaded.)
December 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
JFK is currently a mess (at least for Delta) so I hope everyone enjoyed their ten minutes of “ooh the snow looks so pretty on the branches” moment this morning. (I grew up in Colorado back when it actually snowed there, so yes, I’m jaded.)
This. The number of journalists (not to mention Dem politicians) who continue to behave as if this is the early 80s or something astounds me. Call it whatever you what but it is not normal or precedented and cannot be reacted to or treated as if it is. Doing so is killing people.
The entire White House press corps is built around the premise that what the President and his spokespeople say is real-world news, not complete fantasy.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
December 12, 2025 at 12:39 AM
This. The number of journalists (not to mention Dem politicians) who continue to behave as if this is the early 80s or something astounds me. Call it whatever you what but it is not normal or precedented and cannot be reacted to or treated as if it is. Doing so is killing people.
Kind of terrifying to have no more book reviews assigned by monthly outlets. Maybe a sign I’ve held onto this dream longer than I should have, but I guess I’m more of a dreamer than I thought.
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Kind of terrifying to have no more book reviews assigned by monthly outlets. Maybe a sign I’ve held onto this dream longer than I should have, but I guess I’m more of a dreamer than I thought.
Putting this on my vision board
Bulgaria's Government Resigns Following Mass Protests
The Bulgarian government has resigned following a string of mass protests on the streets of Sofia. Crowds demanded the ouster over several issues, including its spending plan, corruption, a proposed h...
www.rferl.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Putting this on my vision board
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
"'Since lifting of US sanctions on a number of officials in the [RS], we have witnessed a continuation of incendiary behaviour and actions, including from those who were recently delisted by the Trump administration,' said Jeanne Shaheen". www.ft.com/content/49ec...
The Maga push overturning US policy in the Balkans
South-eastern Europe jolted by Trump’s support for pro-Russia Serb leader
www.ft.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:47 PM
"'Since lifting of US sanctions on a number of officials in the [RS], we have witnessed a continuation of incendiary behaviour and actions, including from those who were recently delisted by the Trump administration,' said Jeanne Shaheen". www.ft.com/content/49ec...
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
We’re not a serious country
Mr. Rubio said switching back to Times New Roman would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.” Calibri is “informal” when compared to serif typefaces like Times New Roman and “clashes” with the department’s official letterhead. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...
Rubio Deletes Calibri as the State Department’s Official Typeface
www.nytimes.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:28 AM
We’re not a serious country
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
I can’t believe how much of the Trump era is about solving problems that *don’t* exist while making all the problems that *do* exist, worse.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
Duffy on what he's doing to improve the airport experience for travelers: "Maybe I want a workout area where people might get some blood flowing doing some pull ups or step ups in the airport."
December 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I can’t believe how much of the Trump era is about solving problems that *don’t* exist while making all the problems that *do* exist, worse.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
For traditional, weekend newspaper readers, here’s my current @bostonglobe.com review of the new Antonia Lloyd-Jones translation of the old(ish) Olga Tokarczuk novel HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT:
For the @bostonglobe.com I wrote about Antonia Lloyd-Jones’ wonderful revised translation (“Mushroominess” FTW!) of Olga Tokarczuk‘s HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT, an insightful early novel that shows her playing with the complex narrative form that would reach its height, for me, in “Flights.”
A new edition of an early Olga Tokarczuk novel is cause for celebration - The Boston Globe
Again and again her characters contend with the changing physical borders within which they and their families must live, in a world disrupted by war.
www.bostonglobe.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:59 PM
For traditional, weekend newspaper readers, here’s my current @bostonglobe.com review of the new Antonia Lloyd-Jones translation of the old(ish) Olga Tokarczuk novel HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT:
Reposted by Cory Oldweiler
2/2
Sen Bill Cassidy, a liver-disease MD, complains about this ruling, as I am doing.
Here's the difference: He, personally, could have prevented all the resulting casualties, by casting the swing vote against RFK Jr. That's a power the other 330+ million of us lacked.
Don't let him forget it.
Sen Bill Cassidy, a liver-disease MD, complains about this ruling, as I am doing.
Here's the difference: He, personally, could have prevented all the resulting casualties, by casting the swing vote against RFK Jr. That's a power the other 330+ million of us lacked.
Don't let him forget it.
December 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
2/2
Sen Bill Cassidy, a liver-disease MD, complains about this ruling, as I am doing.
Here's the difference: He, personally, could have prevented all the resulting casualties, by casting the swing vote against RFK Jr. That's a power the other 330+ million of us lacked.
Don't let him forget it.
Sen Bill Cassidy, a liver-disease MD, complains about this ruling, as I am doing.
Here's the difference: He, personally, could have prevented all the resulting casualties, by casting the swing vote against RFK Jr. That's a power the other 330+ million of us lacked.
Don't let him forget it.
The destructive consequences of the last US election are going to last long after I’m gone, and anyone who thinks things will get fixed/go back to “normal” in 2028–even with the best-case scenario—is gravely mistaken I fear.
The headline, the main takeaway from a European viewpoint is this:
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
December 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The destructive consequences of the last US election are going to last long after I’m gone, and anyone who thinks things will get fixed/go back to “normal” in 2028–even with the best-case scenario—is gravely mistaken I fear.