Posts by author
Kathryn Sukalich
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Why We Still Choose Paper
E-book sales have slowed in the past year and a half, so what is making readers continue to opt for paper books? This infographic posted by Electric Literature shows there are plenty of reasons people prefer paper books including the…
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What’s the Difference Between You and Your Great Great Great-Grandfather?
At the Atlantic, David Mitchell discusses his new novel, the poem he keeps above his desk, and how to write. He explains that his work involves writing about distance and time, and that requires figuring out how one culture differs…
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Book Etiquette
At the New York Times Sunday Book Review, humorist and journalist Henry Alford gives advice for borrowing books, giving books as gifts, and commenting on books when you recognize the one the stranger across from you on the train is…
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The Upside of Movies Based on Books
New data shows that when the movie version of a book comes out, kids actually go read the book. The book versions of The Hunger Games, The Lorax, and The Giver all gained new readers around the releases of their…
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Young Adults Still Go to the Library
The Pew Research Center recently released a report about younger Americans’s (ages 16-29) attitudes toward libraries. As it turns out, young adults still read books, they still visit libraries—at least as much as older Americans—and many use library services. There…
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Want to Write? Go for a Walk
A recent piece at the New Yorker explores the relationship between walking and creative thinking, diving into the scientific reasons why this connection exists. The article also notes the many writers who found getting up and going for a walk…
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Leaving Out the Details
Tobias Carroll, writing over at Electric Literature, considers the level of detail authors use to create worlds in fiction. Some writers are known for sparse, minimalistic writing. Others leave out key details in a way that adds meaning to the story.…
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Why You Should Read the Comments
A profile of classicist Mary Beard at The New Yorker describes how Beard’s career in Britain brought her into the public eye. Beard gave a well-known lecture titled “Oh Do Shut Up Dear!” about how women (in literature and in…
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The Future of Libraries
Librarian Justin Wadland attempts to answer the question “What is the future of libraries?” at the Los Angeles Review of Books by reading three recent books about them. He suggests the future of libraries depends on our relationship with them.…
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The Unteachable Dark
Writers Rivka Galchen and Zoë Heller, over at The New York Times, discuss the question that will never go away: can writing be taught? They raise valid points about whether teaching writing is fundamentally different from teaching something like science and the…
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What a Fabulous Lie
At the New York Times, writer Terry Pratchett discusses what he’s reading, who inspires him, and what makes a good fantasy novel. He also reveals one of his favorite childhood books and what made it so great: I found a book called…
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What Does Anna Karenina Look Like?
The Paris Review has an excerpt from Peter Mendelsund’s book What We See When We Read that questions what we think we know about characters. Mendelsund points out that many of us feel like we know our favorite characters intimately, but when…