2011
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Reading on Vacation
Writers reflect on the vacation reading or yesteryear. You find out about Ester Freud’s beach days, which were long enough to allow an entire devouring of Anna Karenina. Also, hear what it’s like to concentrate on Proust in a hostel…
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Rewire Your Brain
Now body hacking exists! A new startup focused on “rewiring your brain” accounts for your caloric intake, exercise habits and sleep patterns, all to make you into a happier person. “Much as an engineer will analyse data and tweak specifications…
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A FAN’S NOTES, The Rumpus Sports Column #38: Highlight Reel
Dear L., You started walking about a month ago. At first, you could only make it five or six steps before losing your footing—before dropping, a bit violently, into a sitting position on the floor.
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Those Presumptuous Blurbs
How do you pare down a novel into a pithy, attractive two-to-three word sentence? Nobody has really mastered the art of the back cover blurb and many esteemed literary figures have had their work inaccurately summarized and oversimplified to fit…
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Hysteria Dissected
Asti Hustvedt’s Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth Century Paris explores 19th century French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot’s use of hypnosis to induce hysteria in his patients. Kathryn Harrison’s review of the book outlines how the ever-elusive idea of hysteria resisted not…
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How To Title Your Book
Title-stress is apparently really common. This being so, authors have responded by finding various methods to assuage the agony and test the waters before finalizing the name of their work (like practice telling your peers at a party without cringing).…
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More Writers Taking TV Turns
Veteran director, Darren Aronofsky, is directing a new television series called “Hobgoblin.” How is this piece of news relevant to the literary community? Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman are writing the pilot, swept up in the TV magnetism that has…
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Where Has All the Anonymity Gone?
What are the cultural consequences of cell phone cameras, social media websites, and online photo hosts? The degradation of anonymity and an obscured understanding of privacy. It’s shockingly simple to identify people on the web—whether to scorn them for an…
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An Interview with a New Medium
Australian children’s book illustrator, Shaun Tan speaks through illustration in his interview with Spiegel. He captures his first impression of Hollywood, the imagined readership of his books, the presence of loneliness that pervades his books—all in pen and paper. It’s…
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FUNNY WOMEN #56: This NPR Pledge Drive Is Getting Out Of Hand
Now more than ever, NPR could use your help. Facing federal cutbacks, we rely on our listeners to donate, and we’re pleased to offer some great premiums in return for your generosity.
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The Elusive Best Seller
“The best seller is caught in a peculiar paradox: Its popularity can be understood as both proof and negation of its value.” The term “best seller,” is in question. Bookforum has an essay on how the term is more of…
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DEAR BULLY
DEAR BULLY is an upcoming anthology penned by young adult authors, tackling the bullying issue by sharing personal experiences and raising awareness. Part of the proceeds from the book are going to the anti-bullying organization, Stomp Out Bullying. Young adult…