The Guardian
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Doing the Math(s) On Across-the-Pond Vocab
If Americans roll their eyes at each other for pretentious uses of British English like “flat” and “queue,” Brits are just as likely to look down on compatriots who use Americanisms like “take-out” and “shopping cart.” But are the UK’s…
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Posthumous Oversharing from F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Fell in love on the 7th … Quarrel. Silence. Zelda sick … Discovery that Zelda’s class voted her prettiest & most attractive.” You can’t follow F. Scott Fitzgerald on Twitter, but if you want to know what his tweets might…
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Boston Marathon Roundup
If you’re looking for a token of solace after the Boston marathon bombings, please check out Roxane Gay’s words if you haven’t already. And Thomas Page McBee reflects on ways to help when feeling helpless. At the Guardian, Rumpus columnist Steve…
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Nobody Tell Gollum About This
“Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens.” It sounds like it comes from a fantasy novel, but it’s a real inscription regarding a real…
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“A New World of Silence and Control”
What does it sound like when someone who grew up without music becomes a musician? For British songstress Phildel, who was raised in an abusive home where she was forbidden to listen to music, that hypothetical question is a reality—and…
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Biting the Hand That Stamps Your Library Book
Last week, British children’s author Terry Deary (famous for his Horrible Histories series) declared that public libraries are unnecessary relics of a past age; they cheat authors of their rightful earnings and “are doing nothing for the book industry.” A…
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Fact and Fiction in The Bell Jar
How much of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is autobiographical, and how much is fictional? Is her unflinching exploration of suicidal depression more meaningful if it’s a record of real life or if it’s invented? The Guardian tackles these questions (and posts a…
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Literature’s Most Famous Party Hosts
Some writers are almost as famous for their raucous boozing as they are for their prose. You could fill a book with tales of literary parties—in fact, professional party planner Suzette Field did just that. The book is called A Curious…
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The Cleverest Boy in the World
There are many things about legendary comic-book writer Alan Moore that are difficult to understand: why he’s turned down so much of the money from film adaptations of graphic novels like Watchmen and V for Vendetta, why he still lives in rundown…
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“No good writer ever merely cheered us up”
Howard Jacobson writes on “bad boys’ books,” making a case for depressing and difficult literature. He argues that all good books improve the character of the reader, even those that cast ugly characters or that offer the reader only the…
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Bookshelf Bonanza
Peter Knox discusses how bookshelves provide a glimpse into an individual’s personality for The Guardian. Knox values these book organizers for a myriad of reasons, one of which being that a person’s book display communicates their tastes across all boards: “Your bookshelf is an…
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China Miéville: the future of the novel
Last week, in the keynote speech at the 2012 Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference, China Miéville spoke about the novel’s many possible futures in cultural, political and digital terms – and concluded with a demand for state-supported salaries for writers: “So…