Posts by author
Abigail Bereola
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What Makes a Book Not Worth Finishing?
Is it that you don’t connect to the characters, or that the writing is weak? Maybe there’s one too many typos or the plot seems implausible. Goodreads has created an infographic about the most abandoned books (Fifty Shades of Grey…
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From Your Mother
Sylvia Plath is known as a writer and a poet, but she almost became a visual artist instead. Plath’s daughter, Frieda Hughes, who is also a painter and a poet, has created a book out of more than forty of…
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McSweeney’s McMullens, Lost Sloth, and J. Otto Seibold
McSweeney’s McMullens has published a new picture book for kids—Lost Sloth by J. Otto Seibold—and they want to celebrate! Join them on Sunday, July 14th, at the Lost Sloth Pop-Up Kids’ Book Shop at 849 Valencia for family-friendly fun and…
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After 65 Years, “The Lottery” Endures
Since its publication in 1948, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson has become an American classic, appearing in high school classrooms, as well as in the hands and on the computers of people around the nation. On the 65th anniversary of the…
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A Brief Look at Other Victories and Defeats
From SB5 in Texas to the Voting Rights Act to the defeat of DOMA, this has been a bittersweet week. But among all of the apprehension and excitement, a few things happened that you may have missed. We don’t usually…
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Shakespeare’s Plays: Fact or Fiction?
Has Shakespeare become so intertwined with our culture that we find it hard to separate myth from reality? Dan Jones at the Telegraph writes about how many of Shakespeare’s historical portraits are tinged with his own biases and those of…
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Neil Gaiman Publishes The Ocean at the End of the Lane
According to The Independent, Neil Gaiman’s new novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, released yesterday, is “possibly Gaiman’s most lyrical, scary and beautiful work yet. It’s a tale about childhood for grown-ups, a fantasy rooted in the…
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An Excuse to Read More Novels
Do you prefer order over ambiguity? Do you often find it necessary to come to definitive conclusions? According to a new study, your answer may have something to do with what you read.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood
In light of the new Hollywood rendition of The Great Gatsby, Jillian Goodman takes a look at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s relationship with Hollywood during his lifetime. How was his writing affected by the city of “glitz and glamour”?
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What Artist is the Focus of Your Unconditional Affection?
A few days ago, writer Teju Cole posed a question to his Twitter followers: “One living writer or musician as the focus of your unconditional affection. Someone all of whose work you buy. Who would that be for you?” The…
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“I’m Totally Powerless in the Face of Men”
23-year-old Marie Calloway, a Rumpus interviewee and Letters in the Mail contributor, became an Internet sensation in late 2011 with “Adrien Brody,” her account of meeting and having a brief love affair with a writer nearly twice her age.
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What If George Eliot Were Mary Ann Evans Instead?
Well, George Eliot is Mary Ann Evans. She chose a male pen name, believing that using her own name would not allow her to be taken seriously as a writer. Over on Thought Catalog, s.e. smith writes about using a…