Dan Brown gets D.C. wrong, says Slate. (But isn’t this just another way of saying that it belongs with almost every other narrative, literary or televisual, ever concocted about the Diamond District?)
It’s Not the Spectacles and Pageantry…
Twerking with Morgan Freeman
You might have heard that "twerk" (among other words) has been added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online. But you probably didn't hear Morgan Freeman reading the definition aloud.
A Disturbance in the Force of the Joyce Estate
Our own Mark O'Connell likens James Joyce's grandson to a "highbrow Darth Vader."
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Jesse Ball in Guernica Magazine
Guernica is running Pieter Emily, Jesse Ball's newest work, in three installments over the next six weeks. The first installment is now available.
Wanna Get Away?
Well, this is gorgeous. Nisa Maier curates a collection of photographs and stories meant to “capture the essence of every country on the planet.” The end result, Let’s Travel Somewhere, can take you from India to Cuba, or from Russia to New Zealand.
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Hitchens on Cancer
Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair on his cancer diagnosis: "To the dumb question 'Why me?' the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?"
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Feminist Fiction
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is almost as famous for being sampled on Beyoncé's latest album as she is for her novel Americanah. With that in mind, she discussed her writing process, hair blogs, and what feminism means to her in Elle. "It means that I am present in the world, and that I realize that there is a problem with the way we’ve constructed gender," she said. For more Adichie, read her 2013 Year in Reading post.
From the Frozen North
Recommended Reading: “Out in the Great Alone,” Brian Phillips’s epic report from the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.