Levi Stahl
@levistahl.bsky.social
Editor of The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany and The Daily Sherlock Holmes. Marketing Director at the University of Chicago Press. Board member of the Uptown People’s Law Center.
The new Debussy is improving. It helps that’s it’s supposed to be slow. (Though the next page has some 32nds.)
January 5, 2026 at 10:58 PM
The new Debussy is improving. It helps that’s it’s supposed to be slow. (Though the next page has some 32nds.)
This is why you read a little Virginia Woolf every day, friends. You never know what you might learn.
He drew pictures of animals as fat as we could demand them.
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
January 5, 2026 at 5:55 PM
This is why you read a little Virginia Woolf every day, friends. You never know what you might learn.
Only the tiniest alterations would be required to make this read like a midcentury New Yorker piece.
January 5, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Only the tiniest alterations would be required to make this read like a midcentury New Yorker piece.
He drew pictures of animals as fat as we could demand them.
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
January 5, 2026 at 11:35 AM
He drew pictures of animals as fat as we could demand them.
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
—Virginia Woolf, remembering her father when she and her siblings were kids
Good morning, friends!
January 5, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Good morning, friends!
“We measure man’s life by years, and it is a solemn knell that warns us we have passed another of the landmarks which stand between us and the grave.”
Dickens closes the long holiday. World events aside, it’s been a good one. I’m grateful for the portion of it I’ve gotten to spend with y’all here.
Dickens closes the long holiday. World events aside, it’s been a good one. I’m grateful for the portion of it I’ve gotten to spend with y’all here.
January 5, 2026 at 2:24 AM
“We measure man’s life by years, and it is a solemn knell that warns us we have passed another of the landmarks which stand between us and the grave.”
Dickens closes the long holiday. World events aside, it’s been a good one. I’m grateful for the portion of it I’ve gotten to spend with y’all here.
Dickens closes the long holiday. World events aside, it’s been a good one. I’m grateful for the portion of it I’ve gotten to spend with y’all here.
I will never again approach the heights of computing skill I demonstrated once in college when my monitor died but I was still able to print a paper, which was due imminently, for a friend from a disk using only keyboard commands.
January 5, 2026 at 2:12 AM
I will never again approach the heights of computing skill I demonstrated once in college when my monitor died but I was still able to print a paper, which was due imminently, for a friend from a disk using only keyboard commands.
Taking great delight in thinking themselves unhappy, and making every body they come near, miserable.
—Charles Dickens, on rich old men, from “Thoughts about People”
—Charles Dickens, on rich old men, from “Thoughts about People”
January 5, 2026 at 1:48 AM
Taking great delight in thinking themselves unhappy, and making every body they come near, miserable.
—Charles Dickens, on rich old men, from “Thoughts about People”
—Charles Dickens, on rich old men, from “Thoughts about People”
Dickens beats the NYT to concern about loneliness as a social problem.
January 5, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Dickens beats the NYT to concern about loneliness as a social problem.
on pace to see 456 movies in the theater this year. including 365 @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social
January 5, 2026 at 1:27 AM
on pace to see 456 movies in the theater this year. including 365 @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social
Cooking music for the last night of the long holiday. Making some fresh pasta and a mushroom stroganoff to go atop them.
January 5, 2026 at 12:25 AM
Cooking music for the last night of the long holiday. Making some fresh pasta and a mushroom stroganoff to go atop them.
Schumer is the Zuckerberg of the Democratic Party.
The trouble is that Schumer thinks he is a fantastic communicator and nobody can make his party's case better than him, so he does all these interviews and it only makes Democrats look pathetically weak. If he was smarter he'd let the Dem senators who are better at it be the spokespeople.
We must focus on lowering costs for the American people, not starting new wars on a whim with no tangible strategy.
January 4, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Schumer is the Zuckerberg of the Democratic Party.
A Hitchcock-branded, Robert Arthur–edited paperback anthology for young readers, Spellbinders in Suspense, had “The Man from the South” in it, and I read it over and over and over when I was a kid. It remains to my mind the model of the sting-in-the-tail magazine story.
Tonight in 1960 — “Man from the South” aired on ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS.
Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen star as gamblers who make a macabre bet in this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story.
Directed by Norman Lloyd and co-starring Neile Adams (McQueen's wife). YouTube: youtu.be/zvyaovvQ0TI?...
Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen star as gamblers who make a macabre bet in this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story.
Directed by Norman Lloyd and co-starring Neile Adams (McQueen's wife). YouTube: youtu.be/zvyaovvQ0TI?...
January 4, 2026 at 10:37 PM
A Hitchcock-branded, Robert Arthur–edited paperback anthology for young readers, Spellbinders in Suspense, had “The Man from the South” in it, and I read it over and over and over when I was a kid. It remains to my mind the model of the sting-in-the-tail magazine story.
Kaiju is helping me sight-read some Joplin.
January 4, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Kaiju is helping me sight-read some Joplin.
30 years ago this week, when I was working in London, my parents & brother visited. We attended an arson trial at the Old Bailey. At one point the man next to my brother scribbled something on a piece of paper, then passed it to him. It read, “The trial is about ARSON.” My brother nodded, sagely.
January 4, 2026 at 12:42 PM
30 years ago this week, when I was working in London, my parents & brother visited. We attended an arson trial at the Old Bailey. At one point the man next to my brother scribbled something on a piece of paper, then passed it to him. It read, “The trial is about ARSON.” My brother nodded, sagely.
In which Dickens anticipates Maxwell House’s slogan, but with a gallows twist.
January 4, 2026 at 12:36 PM
In which Dickens anticipates Maxwell House’s slogan, but with a gallows twist.
His attitude is that of an irresponsible guest who may look upon the whole of Europe as an entertainment preserved, long after its original use has disappeared, for his own diversion.
—Virginia Woolf, on Henry James, from “Portraits of Places” (1906)
—Virginia Woolf, on Henry James, from “Portraits of Places” (1906)
January 4, 2026 at 11:40 AM
His attitude is that of an irresponsible guest who may look upon the whole of Europe as an entertainment preserved, long after its original use has disappeared, for his own diversion.
—Virginia Woolf, on Henry James, from “Portraits of Places” (1906)
—Virginia Woolf, on Henry James, from “Portraits of Places” (1906)
Dreams pursue death as winds a flying fire.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne, from “Ave atque Vale”
—Algernon Charles Swinburne, from “Ave atque Vale”
January 4, 2026 at 11:18 AM
Dreams pursue death as winds a flying fire.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne, from “Ave atque Vale”
—Algernon Charles Swinburne, from “Ave atque Vale”
Good morning, friends!
January 4, 2026 at 11:07 AM
Good morning, friends!
Interesting to see in the credits that Park Chan-wook dedicated No Other Choice to Costa-Gavras, who was the first filmmaker to adapt Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax. I’ve not seen that one, though Abby Westlake told me at one point that she liked it.
January 4, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Interesting to see in the credits that Park Chan-wook dedicated No Other Choice to Costa-Gavras, who was the first filmmaker to adapt Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax. I’ve not seen that one, though Abby Westlake told me at one point that she liked it.
Good morning, friends!
January 3, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Good morning, friends!
Dickens (in Sketches by Boz) just visited Vauxhall Gardens during the day for an event, and, man, I need to go see if there’s a whole book about Vauxhall Gardens because I would devour that.
January 3, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Dickens (in Sketches by Boz) just visited Vauxhall Gardens during the day for an event, and, man, I need to go see if there’s a whole book about Vauxhall Gardens because I would devour that.
Into the “Stacey is off on a trip with her board game friends” portion of the break, which means I will basically say nothing to any 2-legged creature other than “May I have a small popcorn, please?” until Sunday night.
Which means: Piano, movies, & Dickens on the couch with Helen Merrill.
Which means: Piano, movies, & Dickens on the couch with Helen Merrill.
January 3, 2026 at 1:29 AM
Into the “Stacey is off on a trip with her board game friends” portion of the break, which means I will basically say nothing to any 2-legged creature other than “May I have a small popcorn, please?” until Sunday night.
Which means: Piano, movies, & Dickens on the couch with Helen Merrill.
Which means: Piano, movies, & Dickens on the couch with Helen Merrill.
Exceptional book post today. If you’re not already a Nancy Lemann fan, 2026 could be your year. @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social will publish her first new novel in a couple of decades in April, while also bringing back Lives of the Saints. This is the good stuff, friends.
January 3, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Exceptional book post today. If you’re not already a Nancy Lemann fan, 2026 could be your year. @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social will publish her first new novel in a couple of decades in April, while also bringing back Lives of the Saints. This is the good stuff, friends.
Damn, Marty Supreme is good. Chalamet is mesmerizing; all the performers are great. My only quibble is with the music choices—there are a handful of pop numbers not from the period, which needn’t in itself be a problem, but I didn’t feel like any of them added to or commented on the film.
January 3, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Damn, Marty Supreme is good. Chalamet is mesmerizing; all the performers are great. My only quibble is with the music choices—there are a handful of pop numbers not from the period, which needn’t in itself be a problem, but I didn’t feel like any of them added to or commented on the film.