Features & Reviews
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The Definition of Doing It
If you thought having sex was complicated, try defining it. Lexicographer and language expert Jesse Sheidlower, author of the famed F-Word, and currently serving as Editor at Large (North America) of the Oxford English Dictionary, writes about the challenges of defining…
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Notable New York, This Week 10/12-10/18
MONDAY, October 12, 2009 – SUNDAY, October 18, 2009 This week in New York, The New Yorker Festival hits town. And yes, while the “Humor Revue,” “About Towns,” and “Kaffeeklatches” seem to have been sold out before they were on…
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Sherman Alexie on Kindles, Sexiness and Controversy
Sherman Alexie, whose novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was banned in some school districts, is no stranger to controversy. He’s recently come out with a new collection of stories and poetry called War Dances. In this…
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Edgar Allan Poe Is Dead
Okay, so Poe died a really long time ago, but the good news is, according to The Guardian, he’s finally getting a real funeral. “It began badly when he was found, aged 40, wandering the streets of Baltimore, penniless, raving unintelligibly,…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
It’s Sunday, and the Rumpus has lots of great stuff for you this week, including a Supersized Original Combo with Rebecca Wolff.
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Americans think the most annoying expression ever is “whatever,” especially midwestern, Latino, non-college graduates under the age of 45 who make less than a hundred thousand a year. Yes, they really poll this stuff. (via) “Maybe one day we could…
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But Not for Long
Michelle Wildgen’s second novel traces the residents of a sustainable-food co-op through crises, adjustments, and reinventions.
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Victoria Marini: The Last Book I Loved, The Testament of Gideon Mack
The books I love and have loved in the past I have chosen almost always by the recommendations of others.The last book I loved, I loved with an added fever and thrill of having discovered it on my own. The…
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DFW Reacts to Infinite Jest Cuts
“p. 52 – This is one of my personal favorite Swiftian lines in the whole manuscript, which I will cut, you rotter. p. 82 – I cut this and have now come back an hour later and put it back.…
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Rumpus Flash Fiction: “Simoom,” by Anna North
When my father left and my mother went crazy and carved into every wooden surface of our house a name that wasn’t hers or his, I asked what she was doing. She made me get down the dictionary. “Simoom,” I…
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The Return of the Publisher
The author of a novel, who recommended it, how the cover is designed, and what awards it has won often sway readers into buying literature, but it’s not often that readers select books on the basis of who’s published them.…
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California Dreaming
If you haven’t yet watched Showtime’s hit series Californication, here’s a quick tagline: Down-and-out novelist Hank Moody – played by David Duchovny – tries to get his life back on track after his partner/muse leaves him and he succumbs to…