Laura Miller at Salon reports on the fine art of recommending books – “too delicate a task to leave to e-commerce robots” – and the literary types who are now stepping in to offer their advice.
The Art of the Recommendation
You Are Invited
All Millions readers are invited to join us at McNally Jackson bookstore in New York to celebrate the release of The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books. I’ll be joined by my co-editor Jeff Martin, as well as Reif Larsen and Millions staff writers Garth Risk Hallberg and Emily St. John Mandel. It’s shaping up to be a fun night; hope to see you there!
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Wells Tower’s Fairy Tale
Recommended Viewing: Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned author Wells Tower reads an original fairy tale entitled, “The Chinese Person.”
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Richard Branson, Literary Cupid
“[L]isting The Bible proves detrimental for both sexes while listing Fifty Shades of Grey results in women getting 16% fewer messages and Harry Potter losing men up to 55%.” In recent duh news, a study by dating site eHarmony found that book readers are found to be “more intellectually curious than most and find it easier to form open and trusting relationships with others” – but not all books are equal, reports The Independent.
Murakami Meets Spotify
The popular European music site Spotify debuted in the US last week, and already the fine folks at GalleyCat have made a Haruki Murakami playlist.
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Why Read Moby Dick?
Nathaniel Philbrick answers the question Why Read Moby-Dick: “the level of the language is like no other,” but also “it’s as close to being our American Bible as we have.”
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Is it just a Russian thing?
Jennie Erdal asks, “What is the modern equivalent of the philosophical novel?”