Posts by author
Lauren O’Neal
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The Sociopath’s Side of the Story
With the recent spate of writing about sociopathy—including Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test and a New York Times story on possibly psychopathic children—it was only a matter of time before we got a firsthand account from someone who actually has the disorder. That…
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In the Fox’s Den
“I’ll do it this time, Manskoff,” Bill would call after him, “just this once. But I’m tired of this bullshit!” He’d always slow down for the next part, hammering each phrase so there would be no mistake in the future:…
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Call This Playlist Ishmael
Kick your summer off right with a different kind of beach read: Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. (Okay, it’s more of a sea read than a beach read.) To put you in the right mood, Liberty Hardy over at Book Riot took a…
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Reading Between the Lines of On the Waterfront
What sets On the Waterfront apart from more conventional melodrama, besides the emotional force of its storytelling, happens between the lines of the story… “On the Waterfront is no more about the real business of the docks…than Hamlet is an exposé of corruption in the…
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A Longform Safari
Longform.org has been highlighting some amazing stories about animals lately. Like this one about the soulfulness (literally?) of elephants. Or this one about polar bears as creatures, as symbols of global-warming guilt, and as subjects for Martha Stewart’s Hallmark Channel TV…
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When Gelatin Ruled the Food Pyramid
We all love to be hypnotized by the fashion on Mad Men (who knew cigarettes were such an all-purpose accessory?), but most of us aren’t eager to relive the ’60s. Yes, that has something to do with the rampant sexism, racism, and…
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The Mystery of Skeleton Lake
Weird Event No. 1: Hundreds of human skeletons are found in and around a lake in India. Weird Event No. 2: Testing shows that the bones are from around the year 850 and that every one of the hundreds died…
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Reaching Across the Bay Bridge
In a sort of Bay Area meeting of minds, Scott Hutchins, author of a novel about San Francisco and Silicon Valley, profiles Michael Chabon, whose latest novel takes place mainly in Oakland and Berkeley. Read it to learn about Chabon’s…
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Words of Wisdom from Writers
It’s commencement speech season, and New York Daily News‘s books blog has a roundup of some of the best graduation advice from literary figures. Like this, from Toni Morrison: …art takes us and makes us take a journey beyond price, beyond…
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Cecil Castellucci Readings for Kids and Grownups This Weekend
Bay Area readers, you’re in for a treat. Our Letters for Kids editor Cecil Castellucci has a new picture book out, and you can go see her read it in both Alameda and Berkeley this weekend! The book is called Odd…
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A Literary Hoax as Weird as the Dickens
“When Dickens Met Dostoevsky,” a recent article in the Times Literary Supplement, starts out at the highest echelons of writerdom: Michiko Kakutani discusses an encounter between Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky, in which Dickens describes creating his stories’ villains from his…
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The Agony of Adjuncts
This week, Chronicle of Higher Education advice-columnist “Ms. Mentor” counsels a recent MFA graduate on her career options. The recent grad is considering a gig as an adjunct professor teaching composition, but the academic scene Ms. Mentor sketches is pretty grim:…