2014
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Killing Margaret Thatcher
As a citizen I suffered from her, but as a writer I benefited. In the Guardian, author Hilary Mantel discusses her new short story about assassinating Margaret Thatcher and why it took her over 30 years to write it.
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Works to Watch Out For
If Alison Bechdel’s Genius grant weren’t reason enough to celebrate, she’s got another graphic memoir due in 2017. As the New York Times puts it: “The Secret to Superhuman Strength” is Ms. Bechdel’s third graphic memoir and chronicles her decades…
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Ted Wilson Reviews the World #251
A FREE TEDDY BEAR PARTY ★★★★★ Hello, and welcome to my week-by-week review of everything in the world. Today I am reviewing a free teddy bear party.
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Classic Literature Or Social Construct?
Classic literature is neither timeless nor fundamental. Writing is bound by its place in history, both as we read it and as it was written, and the idea of a universal experience is simply another construct of the dominant culture,…
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Notable Los Angeles: 9/22–9/28
It’s Banned Books Week! Stand up for the freedom to read, write, and publish without censorship. Monday 9/22: June Melby presents and signs My Family and Other Hazards. 7 p.m. at Book Soup. DTLAB by Writ Large Press presents the hosts…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
Meet Invincible Eric. Then, Matthew Daddona reviews Carl Adamshick’s “empathetic” collection, Saint Friend. The poet employs a “smooth and elegiac rhetoric that is more concerned with sonic repetition than it is flawless consistency.” Adamshick’s book is worth a look for…
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A Superhero’s Origin Story
David Rector was your average, everyday NPR producer and comic book nerd. Then he suffered a series of health problems that ultimately left him unable to walk or speak. Now, with the help of his fiancee, he’s a superhero. NPR…
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The Blues Can Make You Dance
When it comes to comedy, Ted Alexandro champions thoughtfulness: Comedians are thinkers. The best ones are akin to philosophers, in my opinion. Not that that’s the goal, but sometimes these funny insights can also be deeply profound. I think the…
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hamlet
Shakespeare is invading China. The first complete Chinese translation of the works of Shakespeare wasn’t released until 1967, but Britain’s number one dramatist is now starting to catch the attention of Chinese audiences, reports Melville House’s Moby Lives, saying Shakespeare…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Welcome to the fall (tomorrow), perhaps you’d like to know about the chemistry of autumn leaf color. BBC Earth looks at the insane world of sexual organs. Yes, but what about American secessionist movements? What are you doing there, giant…
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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
Murakami’s depiction of the murdered female sex object at the center of his new novel is not only sexist and irresponsible. It’s also lazy writing.
