Novels and Balaclavas

Do You Actually Have To Finish That Novel?

Michel Chaouli | Yale Review | 16th March 2026

The guilt at not being able to finish a book — especially if that's a regular occurrence — is acute. Unfinished tomes pile up, taunting the reader. "Sometimes I am so intoxicated by the beauty and the intelligence of a novel that I must set it aside. The charge it delivers is so inordinate that I need to measure out the doses I permit myself." To reckon with the end of a good book is to grasp our own mortality (2,500 words)

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One Balaclava After Another

Piers Gelly | Articles Of Interest | 15th October 2026

Thoughts on the balaclava, "a singularly scary article of clothing". "It has a special monstrousness. The head is flattened to a silhouette, practically a living shadow; the mouth, when there’s a mouth, becomes a ragged, roaring O." In life, it's a practical cold weather face covering. In art, it takes on a rich political life, as artists like Pussy Riot, Odd Future, Kneecap and others have demonstrated (2,900 words)

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