Max Liu
maxjliu.bsky.social
Max Liu
@maxjliu.bsky.social
Freelance writer
Pinned
I reviewed John Updike's A Life in Letters - a glorious ride through American literary life in the second-half of the 20th-century and beyond - for this weekend's @ftweekend.com. www.ft.com/content/3c3d...
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
www.ft.com
Reposted by Max Liu
I reviewed John Updike's A Life in Letters - a glorious ride through American literary life in the second-half of the 20th-century and beyond - for this weekend's @ftweekend.com. www.ft.com/content/3c3d...
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
www.ft.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I reviewed John Updike's A Life in Letters - a glorious ride through American literary life in the second-half of the 20th-century and beyond - for this weekend's @ftweekend.com. www.ft.com/content/3c3d...
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
www.ft.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM
"(The) peculiar circumstances of its creation – people experimenting for their own benefit, rather than actively making an album for public consumption – helped forge its distinctly beguiling atmosphere." Enjoyed this review and many of the comments below it www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
The Durutti Column: The Return of the Durutti Column review – fragile classic that echoes far beyond its time
The delicate experimentation of the band’s debut may not have chimed with the post-punk 1980s, but its durability makes this deluxe reissue thoroughly deserved
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Max Liu
🎉🎉 We are thrilled to discover that PERFECTION by Vincenzo Latronico, tr. Sophie Hughes, is @foylesforbooks.bsky.social's Fiction Book of the Year! 🎉

Discover more: www.foyles.co.uk/highlights/f...
November 27, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Max Liu
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Gove should not be judging a literary prize, let alone one for writing about homelessness. I'll avoid crass analogies and just say it's up there with when Frances Osborne was allowed to judge the Booker while her husband was closing hundreds of public libraries. bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Are all articles lists now? Id write a list of all the list pieces I've written this year but I've still got two more to write
November 26, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Max Liu
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.

Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly on.ft.com/4p6UPxO
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
It’s here! Our annual, bumper FT round-up of the best reads of the year - from economics and food to history and fiction and so much more - as selected by our critics and editors.

Lots to inspire the mind, lift the spirits and make you smile.

on.ft.com/4nYjkeU The best books of the year 2025
The best books of the year 2025
From economics, politics and history to science, art, food and, of course, fiction — our annual round-up brings you top titles picked by FT writers and critics
on.ft.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
"Cowley decided, somewhat unwisely, that the most direct path to influence was freelance book reviewing." Haha. I need to read this biography - reviewed by Kevin Lozano
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
The Man Who Helped Make the American Literary Canon
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the country’s literature was widely considered provincial. Then Malcolm Cowley set about championing writers like Kerouac and Faulkner as uniquely American.
www.newyorker.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
In honour of the eighteenth of November, here's my recent @irishtimes.com interview with Solvej Balle about seven books on the subject of being stuck in today's date.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Solvej Balle: ‘I thought that if I started to write this, I would spoil it’
Solvej Balle’s near-40-year project, On the Calculation of Volume, seems both outside time and yet immediately relevant
www.irishtimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Finally saw the Springsteen anti-biopic. Disappointed it wasn't, as Id expected, about the fraught soul-searching and creative breakthrough that went into making Radio Nowhere on Magic... Nah I Iiked it. Both Jeremys were great. I agree with this intelligent piece. pitchfork.com/thepitch/spr...
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Review: A Curveball Music Biopic
Director Scott Cooper takes a left turn and frames a smaller portrait of a rock’n’roll star, featuring Jeremy Allen White as the Boss searching for inspiration while writing the spare and dark 1982 al...
pitchfork.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
Final spin for my Booker controversies. One last thought - for somebody who is against prizes (competition is the antithesis of art) I spend a lot of time talking about them inews.co.uk/culture/book...
The nine most controversial Booker winners ever
From prize-sharing Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo, to Paul Beatty winning for The Sellout, these are the victors who caused most of a stir
inews.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Proof if ever needed that high importance emails are the domain of psychopaths
Michael Wolff, Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein taking time out of their day covering up the world's most famous pedophile ring to complain about Ta-Nehesi Coates.
November 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Final spin for my Booker controversies. One last thought - for somebody who is against prizes (competition is the antithesis of art) I spend a lot of time talking about them inews.co.uk/culture/book...
The nine most controversial Booker winners ever
From prize-sharing Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo, to Paul Beatty winning for The Sellout, these are the victors who caused most of a stir
inews.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Couldn't remember why I was in a good mood when I woke up. Then I remembered... A song that hits first time but one I know I will hear more and more in over the next weeks, months, years... www.youtube.com/watch?v=viti...
Robyn - Dopamine (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Robyn
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:14 AM
After David Szalay's uncontroversial Booker win, I looked at some controversial moments from the prize's history feat. Berger, Kelman, Swift et al inews.co.uk/culture/book...
The nine most controversial Booker winners ever
From joint-winners Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo to Paul Beatty winning for The Sellout, these victors caused most of a stir
inews.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Max Liu
Read Palestine Week is coming up on 29 November-December 5.

A great way to support Palestinian writers is to read their work. Also, it's good to read it because of its quality.

Why not take part and perhaps discover a talented writer you haven't read before.
November 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Yeah?
‘We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read’

We're delighted to announce Flesh by David Szalay as the winner of the #BookerPrize2025.
November 10, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
From The Conservationist to Milkman... Ahead of tonight's @thebookerprizes.com winner ceremony, I chose my 13 best winners ever for @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/book...
The 13 best Booker-winning novels of all time
Ahead of the 2025 award ceremony tonight, these are the judge's choices from previous years that have best stood the test of time
inews.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 12:35 PM
From The Conservationist to Milkman... Ahead of tonight's @thebookerprizes.com winner ceremony, I chose my 13 best winners ever for @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/book...
The 13 best Booker-winning novels of all time
Ahead of the 2025 award ceremony tonight, these are the judge's choices from previous years that have best stood the test of time
inews.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Max Liu
Reviewed The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard. It made me wonder if he made a Faustian pact, My Struggle was the reward and everything since the price www.ft.com/content/a728...
The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard — the author’s struggle continues
The Norwegian novelist continues his ‘Morning Star’ series with a deadpan tale of a self-aggrandising artist
www.ft.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:17 AM