- History’s 10 best prison breaks.
- A Paid Content column argues that the true genius of the Kindle is that it breaks the trend toward multi-tasking…
- …But there is still a huge amount of confusion surrounding the Kindle’s DRM policies.
- AbeBooks aggregates some summer reading lists.
- VQR compiles a brief reading list for those following the post-election protests in Iran.
- Bay Area readers: Conversational Reading is taking a page from The Millions playbook and hosting a San Francisco indie bookstore walking tour. Sounds fun!
Curiosities: SF Tour
Hilary Mantel’s Torment and Joy
In her Shelf Awareness interview, Hilary Mantel admits that Wolf Hall, her recently released Bring Up the Bodies, and the trilogy’s forthcoming conclusion were originally conceived to be one book. That they kept expanding, she says, is “the torment and joy of writing fiction.” Meanwhile, over at The Daily Beast, the English author rounds up her five favorite historical fictions.
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New Mary Karr
Fans of Mary Karr‘s The Liar’s Club and Cherry: At the New York Times Book Review, Susan Cheever describes Karr’s latest memoir, Lit, as “the best book about being a woman in America I have read in years.”
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Violence and Darkness for Children
In a New York Times op-ed piece on violence in children’s literature, Maria Tatar claims that “the savagery we offer children today is more unforgiving than it once was.” Is that really the case? Adam Gidwitz‘s A Tale Dark And Grimm (reviewed by the Times last November), which underscores the violence inherent in Grimm’s tales, can be read as a counterpoint.
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Nadia Owusu on Validating Each Other’s Experiences
Author Nadia Owusu gives voice to the grief of people of color—grief that is so often silenced, especially in the workplace.
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“The point is not satisfaction”
“The peace may be holding, but the process is faltering,” writes Colum McCann, forty years after the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, in his evaluation of Ireland’s present relationship with the “Troubles.” “It is, of course, naïve to expect total reconciliation,” he continues. “Some grievances are so deep that the people who suffered them will never be satisfied. But the point is not satisfaction — the point is that the present is superior to the past, and it has to be cultivated as such.”
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Marie-Helene Bertino on Manipulating Time in Fiction
In Bertino's latest novel, a bride-to-be struggles with her past, her future, and her dead grandma, who's back as a bird.
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Will Hoge
There’s a great free download at iTunes right now: Country rocker and (some say) Tom Petty-sound-alike Will Hoge‘s new single “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.” If you like what you hear, Hoge is also on tour right now.
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