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Join NOW!The Los Angeles Review of Books features a gorgeous review by Colin Dickey on Vampyroteuthis Infernalis: A Treatise. In other words, a book on the search for the elusive and alien vampire squid (a search which may or may not include stakes and garlic). Flusser wants to create a dialogue between human and vampire squid, knowing […]
...moreWhether you think Monopoly is boring, cutthroat, depressing, or an opportunity to display your impressive financial skills, we bet you didn’t know the complete history of the board game. Harper’s Magazine features a hefty article on the game’s origins, which will either totally engross you or make you slightly cross. So the next time someone […]
...moreToday is the day for ghost stories. At The New Yorker, Brad Leithauser analyzes Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” focusing on the distinction still being puzzled out by readers and scholars alike: were the ghosts real, or was the unnamed governess real crazy? This is the sort of question that keeps stories, ghost […]
...morePeter Mountford writes about lending a hand to the mysterious “AlexanderIII” of Moscow, who is conducting a pirated translation of his novel. What begins as an author’s dream of “overhearing” a discussion of his phrase-work quickly becomes something else entirely. “Though I was impressed by AlexanderIII’s dedication, his numerous message-board queries did not inspire much […]
...moreDonald Hall offers The New Yorker a series of reminiscences, observations and gentle declarations concerning the poetry reading, a beast he has come to know most intimately during his lifetime, both from the audience and the stage. “Sound had always been my portal to poetry, but in the beginning sound was imagined through the eye. […]
...moreOver on The Millions, Thea Lim takes an analytical look at Junot Díaz and his book, This Is How You Lose Her, shedding some light on the reactions it has inspired, from the accolades and awards, to feminist criticism and the influence of race. For me, the magic of Junot Díaz is that his stories work on more levels […]
...moreIf you enjoyed our interview with Joshua Henkin, may we direct you to this review of The World Without You, featured in The New York Times Sunday Book Review. “Henkin’s prose is elegant but unobtrusive, always serving the characters. Although the cast is large, you get to know them deeply, like real people, and while they’re not […]
...moreMother Jones features a gripping story by Shane Bauer, who in 2009 was apprehended on the Iraqi border and imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison in Iran for 26 months, 4 of which were spent in solitary. Using his experience as reference, he probes American prison policies on solitary confinement, particularly the processes of California’s Pelican Bay […]
...moreWe’ve all got those books we’ve been meaning to read. Whether we heard about them yesterday, or saw them in a bookstore window a couple of months ago, or we can’t quite remember when but someone told us about something they thought we might like, a while ago, we think. Or perhaps you’ve got a […]
...moreHow can you tell when someone you know has been affected by an experience in their life? Is it a deeper crease in the forehead, or a slight, pensive frown on the mouth? Or is it something less straightforward, a different look in the eyes, a sense of tension in the cheek? Claire Felicie photographed […]
...moreIf you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like to be a cataloger of an author’s work, much less David Foster Wallace’s final book, you may want to give Jenn Shapland’s gorgeous essay, “The Human Heart is a Chump: Cataloging The Pale King” a going over. “When you catalog an archive, you might imagine that […]
...moreDan Weiss is away this week. We’ll do our best to get the day started without him. A paleontologist’s idea of a “nice pet.” Watch out. Some cakes bite back. Space travel: now propelled by sunshine. If you ever needed an excuse to be narcissistic.
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