Valerie Stivers
@valerie_reads
Catholic sensualist. Hostessing fundamentalist. Culture for all. Contributing writer @unherd. Food column @OSV
Also up today, Episode 1 of The Fretful Porpentine, my new podcast on classical music in books, co-hosted with @Klassical_Kat. First up is a Chopin scherzo in Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer.
Wrote about Pan by Michael Clune today for @compactmag_ and went to see him speak tonight, discussing his unique method of a realist invocation of altered states of consciousness, among other things. Bringing in the magical and the sacred. compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
"A path implies an orderly progression of time... Nick transforms the path in his mind into a pier.. A pier suggests arrivals, a pier is all future." @valerie_reads reviews a strange but brilliant novel that sums up our times in @compactmag_ compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
Me on portals to the mystic in Michael Clune's brilliant debut novel PAN, today @compactmag_ . The best debut novel in my time as a book critic. compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
.@valerie_reads praises PAN, the new novel by Michael Clune. compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
"We didn’t know back then that we were poised in the rubble at the end of Christendom, waiting for a new civilization to arrive." Me on PAN (and growing up in the 80s) by Michael Clune today for @compactmag_ compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
'A small but powerful literary sub-genre is the novel of pagan intoxication breaking forth in a modern, secular milieu.' @valerie_reads on Michael Clune's Pan: compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
Yes, it's our podcast
Is there a NYRB closet and can writers go in there and talk about what’s great and take it home
Today for @compactmag_ I wrote about #MichaelClune's PAN. A novel of pagan intoxication, offering the most interesting thinking being done today about human meaning and the arts. compactmag.com/article/a-ques…
Next weekend 7/26 8:30pm: SERPENT CLUB PRESS: NEW WRITING ISSUE III RELEASE PARTY - copies of the new issue, featuring work by @RossBarkan Emmalea Russo @AnaKrivolapova @communecore @philiptraylen Ella Schmidt @FOMO_sacer Udith Dematagoda @ingmar_bugman and others + art by…
#Read my new #bookreview of “Alice, or The Wild Girl” by @WhatHoARat 💫 #booktwt #booktwitter 💫 vocal.media/geeks/book-rev…
My new podcast with @Klassical_Kat now has an Instagram. @fretful_porpentine_podcast. Follow us!
Finally got to achieve my life long goal of telling David brooks he is wrong about everything in the New York Times
In most cases, men should just stay out of the home decor.
Fellas is it gay to have any taste whatsoever.
Love this essay by @FOMO_sacer for @unherd. Though honestly I found the catching of the Coldplay couple as amusing as everyone else did. unherd.com/2025/07/the-sa…
Apparently people would rather shame parents than hold the tech companies accountable for their products. I find this odd.
No smart phone at all for kids. Couple recent books on this: “The Collapse of Parenting” by Cox — very good “The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones.” By Clare Morell — interview with R Reno in First Things was interesting
'Our wealthiest and most powerful companies pump unrestricted access to hardcore porn to our children, scot-free.' Our kids deserve better, writes @valerie_reads 👇 buff.ly/1WQIdCQ
My son's summer reading for entering the 9th grade is a pile of garbage ideology YA. And this is why the kids hate the humanities.