Here are the first lines of the new Gary Shteyngart novel, Super Sad True Love Story, forthcoming in July: “Today I’ve made a major decision: I am never going to die. Others will die around me. They will be nullified. Nothing of their personality will remain. The light switch will be turned off.”
First Lines of the New Gary Shteyngart
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What They Teach
For those who are out of the collegiate loop and are curious what’s being assigned in classrooms these days, The Literary Hub has compiled a fascinating list of books being taught by English professors at institutions across the country. Pair with these two related pieces from The Millions on the business of teaching creative writing and fifty-five thoughts on teaching English in public school.
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Place Your Bids
“I’ve learnt so much from this profound novelist about nuance, understatement, technique.” Eighteen handwritten homages to Jane Austen by well-known writers are up for auction until tomorrow. Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel, and Ian McEwan are among the authors whose tributes will raise funds for the Royal Society of Literature, reports The Guardian. And read our interview with Curtis Sittenfeld, whose most-recent novel Eligible is the ultimate literary tribute, an adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
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Sell! Sell! Sell! (And Write, Too!)
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If I Were a Boy
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I like this whole first line from upcoming books thing you have going on. These first lines do not make me want to read this book, though. Too precious.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the phrase “new Gary Shteyngart novel”!
It wasn’t on most of those “books we’re excited about next year lists”, so a welcome surprise. Plus, it’s a heckuva sentence.
Oh boy! Another kinda creepy, sorta funny, odd, quirky wild ride. Never underestimate the guy who wrote the greatest circumcision story of all time.