7/8/21The A.V. Club’s favorite books of 2021 so farTwo novels in translation and two Rachels (Cusk and Kushner) crack our top 10ByLaura Adamczyk, Danette Chavez, Rien Fertel, and Ashley NaftulePublishedJuly 8, 2021
6/14/21Genesis P-Orridge’s Nonbinary chronicles a singular life and countercultureThe memoir arrives one year after the Throbbing Gristle lead singer's deathByAshley NaftulePublishedJune 14, 2021
5/4/21If emo can be rehabbed, why not ska?Ska and punk are tangled together like grapevines. While both genres originated elsewhere—punk in the U.S. and ska…ByAshley NaftulePublishedMay 4, 2021
3/15/21Fulfillment takes readers on a dark tour of Amazon’s AmericaThe mega-corp future that cyberpunk predicted is already here, but instead of fiber-optic mohawks and cybernetic eye…ByAshley NaftulePublishedMarch 15, 2021
2/19/21On Open Door Policy, The Hold Steady evolve from bar hounds into lounge lizardsEarly on in the 2020 sort-of documentary Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, an old man coins a rallying cry for generations…ByAshley NaftulePublishedFebruary 19, 2021
1/11/21Both the living and the dead haunt the unsettling stories of The Dangers Of Smoking In BedThe late Roger Ebert once wrote that “the movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” Great fiction comes off…ByAshley NaftulePublishedJanuary 11, 2021
12/16/20The A.V. Club’s 15 favorite books of 2020A certain amount of escapism through books would have been more than understandable in 2020. (And by “a certain…ByLaura Adamczyk, Danette Chavez, Alex McLevy, Randall Colburn, Rien Fertel, Samantha Nelson, Ashley Naftule, Bradley Babendir, and Ines BellinaPublishedDecember 16, 2020
11/9/20Jonathan Lethem’s The Arrest asks: What happens to a life built around cinema and sushi after society collapses?Apocalypses in fiction tend to be geographically egalitarian. It doesn’t matter if it’s a zombie uprising, an alien…ByAshley NaftulePublishedNovember 9, 2020
10/5/20A family’s vacation is cut short by crisis in Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World BehindIt’s funny how the time of day can change the meaning of a knock. An unexpected rapping on the door during daylight…ByAshley NaftulePublishedOctober 5, 2020
9/14/20With Wagnerism, Alex Ross complicates the image of fascism’s favorite composer“Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit…” For a certain generation of pop culture junkies, the first image that springs to…ByAshley NaftulePublishedSeptember 14, 2020
8/17/20Toxic fanboy culture could learn a thing or two from Hannah Ewens’ FangirlsThe Maenads were the original fans. The followers of Dionysus in Greek mythology, they were the “raving ones”—a…ByAshley NaftulePublishedAugust 17, 2020
8/11/20Deftones’ White Pony is the only nu-metal record you don’t have to be ashamed of owningIt seems every few months on Twitter another “four high school albums” prompt makes the rounds, inspiring…ByAshley NaftulePublishedAugust 11, 2020
4/2/20Sasha Geffen’s Glitter Up The Dark shines a light on pop music’s queer historyWhile her biggest claim to fame remains her colorful fruit headpiece, camp icon Carmen Miranda deserves respect as…ByAshley NaftulePublishedApril 2, 2020
3/24/20With Histoire De Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg composed a French sex god’s teenage symphonyOn April 5, 1986, French singer Serge Gainsbourg told Whitney Houston on live TV that he wanted to fuck her. Looking…ByAshley NaftulePublishedMarch 24, 2020
2/12/19The slow and steady perfection of Galaxie 500’s On FireOne of the best things about old records is the liner notes. Pick up a jazz or pop LP of a certain vintage and…ByAshley NaftulePublishedFebruary 12, 2019