David Varno

Fiction Reviews Editor at @PublishersWkly, @bookcritics board

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@TitusAndronicus The Sick Bed of Cuchlainn, Something I Learned Today, Hells Bells, Baba O'Reilly and I guess Linoleum? And definitely Nebraska.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

Would only see A Complete Unknown if I knew this guy would be there screaming https://t.co/vbXJiIFBRJ

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

Wonder if someone will say this in 50 years about Adam Driver and his T-square

[Richard Brody @tnyfrontrow]

In honor and memory of Kris Kristofferson, whose substantial art went unrecognized because he didn't fuss. He put one of the greatest movies of modern Hollywood on his shoulders and carried it, for nearly four hours, with enormous yet graceful power, and got only insults for it.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

They should pick Walz so Kamala can make this joke:

“They wanna build a wall? Let me be clear. I’ve got Walz.”

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@michaelschaub @mariskreizman Lol I love this. They had a promo tape with a cover of Unity by Operation Ivy that was actually pretty good. Covers, man.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@justlikebeirut It's literally broken

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

New year's resolution for 2025: no more covid novels

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@katekilla Danzy Senna, Atticus Lish, Don Lee, Lily King, Jhumpa Lahiri, and probably more but honestly it's been a while since I've thought about it!

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

What made the show great was the deep commitment to absurdity and to the characters' antisocial outlooks.
What doesn't age so well are the cheap shots aimed at other groups, which fed into the prejudices of a mass audience. That's not fearless, it's lazy.

[Variety @Variety]

Jerry Seinfeld says TV comedy is being hurt by "the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people."

“It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, “Cheers” is on. Oh, “MASH” is on. Oh, “Mary Tyler Moore” is on. “All in the Family” is on.’ You just expected, ‘There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight.’ Well, guess what—where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people...[comedy fans] are now going to see stand-up comics because we are not policed by anyone. The audience polices us. We know when we’re off track. We know instantly and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — 'Here’s our thought about this joke.' Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”

Read more here: https://t.co/NpfanDuoyU

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

Nice to see American Fiction win for best adapted screenplay, although it was strange Percival Everett wasn't credited in the acceptance speech.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@TheLincoln I had a book blip at 15 and 16 and only read fanzines and magazines. Didn't even read for school. Before that it was Clancy, Crichton, and Grisham. Later in high school I read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man although my favorite was Trainspotting.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@Jo_Livingstone Alternative translation: "The audience doesn't want to go to a Christian [Bale] movie. They want to go to a Christopher [Nolan] movie."

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@Klick231 @KateDwyer Lol no one here is saying a phone was checked in 1985.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

As an involuntary keeper of groundhogs, I am perennially nudged toward mustering some obduracy and animal cunning of my own

[Joyce Carol Oates @JoyceCarolOates]

dropping a mature groundhog a few feet onto the ground would certainly not kill or even injure the groundhog. anyone who thinks otherwise is not a gardener & does not know the first thing about the obduracy, rapacity, & sheer animal cunning of a groundhog.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@Borisk That's what he looked like whenever I saw him at the Angelika in one of the theaters.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

@adalva @wwborders Congrats on a great run! You'll be missed at WWB.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

This was such a fun conversation, and I can't recommend WAYS AND MEANS enough (as you know if you've talked to me in the past couple months since I read it)

[Daniel Lefferts @daniel_lefferts]

I loved talking to @DavidVarno at @PublishersWkly about Ways and Means. Topics include: Succession, class shame, MAGA gays, and Henry James. Book’s out Feb. 6! https://t.co/Ef5oDtKz3W

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

Had such a great time judging the nonfiction prize this year under exemplary leadership by @Jo_Livingstone. Congrats to the finalists!

[National Book Critics Circle @bookcritics]

The finalists for the NBCC Award for Nonfiction are Roxanna Asgarian, Kerry Howley, Jeff Sharlet, Christina Sharpe, and Dina Nayeri.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

Well said / agree

[J. Howard Rosier @justlikebeirut]

This was my fourth year chairing the criticism committee at @bookcritics, and man oh man what a list! Five very persuasive invitations to view the world in a different way.

[David Varno @DavidVarno]

And here's the fiction!

[National Book Critics Circle @bookcritics]

The finalists for the NBCC Award for Fiction are Teju Cole, Daniel Mason, Lorrie Moore, Marie NDiaye and Jordan Stump, and Justin Torres.