Threading a fine line between enlightenment and titillation, critical inquiry and tragic comedy, recognition and denial, three formidable cultural critics face up to the darker realms of human emotion as they read from their newly published books, inviting us to examine, name, and even revel in the “ugly feelings” that fuel the culture of our time. In Jack Halberstam’s embrace of “low theory” in The Queer Art of Failure (Duke University Press), the scholar looks at, among other things, the notion of failure embedded in today’s animation for children. Wayne Koestenbaum’s Humiliation (Picador) examines the guises and meanings of shame for individuals both famous and obscure—not least himself. Finally, Maggie Nelson, in The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (W.W. Norton and Co.), considers representations of violence in art, writing and drama in works expressly designed to shock and awe. But fear not: It’s still a book party!