The Funniest Part of Alison Bechdel’s Work
The author is willing to let her main character be both her double and the butt of her joke.
Emma Sarappo
Emma Sarappo is a senior associate editor at The Atlantic.
Latest
Courtesy of Mariner Books* Take Your Book Outside
Reading al fresco isn’t always idyllic, but it can be sublime.
Martin Parr / Magnum The Gleeful, Chaotic World of Underground Comics
Diane DiMassa’s Hothead Paisan is full of unrestrained, devil-may-care attitude.
Courtesy of New York Review Comics Three Very Different Ways to Live Honestly
In Emily St. James’s new novel, three trans women figure out what life to live—and what to sacrifice for it.
Sebastian Mast / Connected Archives A Delightfully Frenetic Cult Classic
Chloe Caldwell’s Women revolves around a life-altering yet toxic affair.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema / Buyenlarge / Getty Why Contemporary Fiction Loves Analog Tech
In Catherine Airey’s new novel, a young person’s curiosity about a life lived without social media or streaming is deployed to superb effect.
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic. Source: Getty. How ‘the End’ Helps Us Find New Beginnings
Contemplating death at the start of a new year
DeAgostini / Getty In Defense of Lists
’Tis the season for best-of coverage.
Illustration by Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Source: Getty What a 16-Year-Old Doesn’t Yet Know
Cher’s memoir is a valuable document of a young girl thrust into the adult world.
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty The Least-Loved Type of Memoir
Political autobiographies are usually dreck, but some rise above their genre.
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic
