I did not know this existed: Trivial Pursuit Book Lover’s Edition. I suspect that Millions readers would be quite skilled. Sample question: “What Hardy novel features a doomed title heroine who names her daughter Sorrow?” Bookslut took the game for a spin a few years back.
Book Nerd Gift Alert
At Thep Moob Men’s Prison
Recommended Reading: an excerpt from Wells Tower’s short story, “The Dance Contest” which is fully available in the latest issue of McSweeney’s.
●
●
Private Ennui
Marlon James, winner of this year's Man Booker prize, believes that writers of color are "pandering to the white woman." James touched on some related topics in the conversation with novelist Jeanette Winterson that we told you about yesterday.
●
●
Harry Potter and the Depressing Play
For a boy wizard whose saga ended six years ago, Harry Potter is in the news a lot lately. The Chosen One got a makeover by Jim Kay, and now J.K. Rowling is working on a stage play based on Potter. Don't expect a stage set of Hogwarts because the play will focus on Harry's early years at 4 Privet Drive.
Utne Reader Controversy
The Utne Reader offices are moving from Minneapolis to Topeka, and the magazine's not taking any current employees with it.
●
●
Duck and Cover
"In my mind, the encircled bird on the cover of the 1978 Pocket Books edition of Play It As It Lays immediately recalled another: the mockingjay pin given to Katniss Everdeen at the start of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games." At Paper Monument: the importance of book covers.
●
●
Batuman the Bestseller
Brilliant, funny essay by Elif Batuman about "life after a bestseller," including the time she asked Jonathan Franzen if had any weed. Bonus Link: Batuman at The Millions.
●
●