Reading List
Andrea Long Chu
Book Critic at New York Magazine
Andrea Long Chu won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2023 for essays written for New York magazine, where she is the book critic. Her first book, Females, appeared in 2019 and was argued about immediately, which is roughly its intention. She writes long, reads theory as closely as she reads fiction, and is unusually willing to say plainly that a celebrated book does not work, which is why her reviews get read by people who have no intention of buying the book.
Beyond the Pleasure Principle
by Sigmund Freud · 1920 · Nonfiction
“This is the book that proposed the existence of the death drive, the natural inclination in all of us to die on our own terms. In the process, Freud had to throw out his old system and create a new one. For that kind of intellectual daring alone, a thrilling read.” — via Article
Second Place
by Rachel Cusk · 2021 · Fiction
“I've written damningly of Cusk, but there's no denying her talent.” — via Article
Stag Dance
by Torrey Peters · 2025 · Fiction
“That's how I feel about Peters, who may be single-handedly taking trans literature into a new dimension.” — via Article
Cruel Optimism
by Lauren Berlant · 2011 · Nonfiction
“This book changed my life when I first encountered it in graduate school. It made me believe that there was someone else in the world who thought the way I did.” — via Article
Recognizing the Stranger
On Palestine and Narrative
by Isabella Hammad · 2024 · Essays
“A lucid lecture from a talented novelist, delivered just nine days before Oct. 7 and published a year later.” — via Article
Against Interpretation
And Other Essays
by Susan Sontag · 1966 · Essays
“The title is so good that it can trick you into agreeing with it on instinct. Sontag's approach to criticism is always grounded in her undeniable stylishness, even when her actual claims about art are preposterous or insufferable.” — via Article