Mars Review of Books Podcast · Mars Review of Books

Like This Podcast or Die w/ Christian Lorentzen

·1 hr 12 min·4 clips

New York magazine dropped his book-review contract and replaced it with 'books coverage'.

PubKey Bar gives the conversation a loose, slightly cursed energy. The host brings Christian in through his reviews, his London Review of Books work, and the Mars Review of Books connection. Politics comes first. Christian remembers the DNC as cringe-inducing, even though he left with the wrong feeling that Harris would win. The mic cuts in, because of course it does. After a quick reset, they get back to Trump, Harris, debate optics, and the bad confidence that followed. Then publishing takes over. Christian talks through New York magazine dropping his regular book reviewing contract and swapping it for lighter books coverage. He is not exactly heartbroken about the replacement model: profiles, Q and A pieces, debut authors, book clubs. The grievance has teeth, though. What starts as magazine-world fallout turns into a sharper complaint about criticism getting nudged aside by publicity and service journalism. Andrea Long Chu comes up carefully. Christian separates that later critic model from his own weekly grind, while still granting that the fewer pieces were serious. The rhythm stays jumpy. The host asks whether publications dodge negative reviews, and Christian bats that away with real impatience. New York Times book coverage enters the chat too, with Pamela Paul treated as part of the pattern rather than a tidy media studies example. By the end, they are trying to close and still riffing: a Harry Potter line that should have landed earlier, a dodge around editorial self-commentary, and thanks instead of a neat landing.

As heard by us

A sharp barroom conversation about books, criticism, and the changing economics of coverage.

Live from PubKey Bar in New York City, the episode has the feel of a room still settling in while the conversation runs ahead. Christian Lorenzen moves from the DNC and the election to the economics of book criticism, including New York magazine's shift away from the regular…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a barroom argument about books, politics, and magazine culture.

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