At The Rumpus, a long group interview/discussion with John Brandon, author of Citrus County. It’s all part of The Rumpus Book Club
Rumpus Book Club Action
To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway
Aaron Sorkin is writing the first Broadway production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. To prepare, Michael Bourne’s essay introduces us to the real Atticus Finch.
From A to Zuckerman
Looking to get into Philip Roth? Not sure where to start in the perennial Nobel favorite’s massive ouevre? Thankfully, the novelist Gabriel Roth is here, swooping in with the only guide you’ll ever need. He explains why Portnoy’s Complaint made the splash it did, why Goodbye, Columbus put Roth on the map, and why the character of David Kepesh is critical to understanding Roth’s legacy. Related: Keith Meatto picks out ten lessons from the author's work.
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Shoot First
A hundred years after the First World War began, many people are looking anew at the conflict, among them Thomas Laquer, who wrote a lengthy reflection of its causes in an LRB review of Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers. In The New Yorker, George Packer uses the war as a jumping-off point for an essay on a broader topic: the evolution of war literature in the modern world.
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An Autocrat’s Guide to World Cup Qualification
Recommended reading: What do you get the guy you can't get anything else--the one with his own oil-rich country--like the Emir of Qatar? The LA Review recommends starting with the World Cup.
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Lit Mag Unlocked
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David Shields on the Colbert Report
Watch David Shields on the Colbert Report last week -- Colbert: "Are you the Vanilla Ice of novels?" Shields: "Precisely."
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