It’s not hard to justify our selection of George Orwell as our Pessimist of the Week. All you need, in fact, is one quote from his novel Nineteen Eighty-four: If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot…
If ever a songwriter were meant to be enjoyed while driving empty Panhandle highways at night, hungover, and in the full bloom of heartbreak, it would be Richard Buckner.
You’d normally do well to steer clear of articles with hyperbolic headlines like this one: “George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year.” But believe it or not, that’s actually pretty true.