The Observer profiles Baumbach père: Jonathan, that is, whose new novel, Dreams of Molly, is out in May from Dzanc books.
You Don’t Shoot the Beard!
Digital Tolstoy
“Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s entire body of work – all 90 volumes – along with comprehensive biographical materials has been posted online and will be available for free, a descendant said.”
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An Earthquake-Proof Library
Japanese architect Shinsuke Fujii has designed a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that's meant to withstand the shocks of an earthquake.
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Centireading
“You can be acquaintances with many books, and friends with a few, but family with only one or two.” On rereading the same books – in this case Hamlet and The Inimitable Jeeves – 100 times.
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TimeScapes
Even if Tom Lowe’s forthcoming debut film TimeScapes consists solely of this production footage on loop, it’ll still be jaw-droppingly beautiful.
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Is a Harper’s Café Around the Corner?
The Oxford American will soon run its own restaurant out of its Arkansas headquarters. Like its associated publication, South on Main will “try and explore the whole breadth of the South.” It will also feature an event space.
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“You may better yourself by reading this, but who cares?”
“Usually, with a novel, you start with no idea what to do because your job is to create convincing characters and then they just run around getting crazy. The problem with writing a memoir, obviously, is you can’t do that because you sort of know what’s going to happen. Because you’re the character.” – Gary Shteyngart
It’s Okay, I Guess
If your default mood hovers between melancholy and despair, you may be cheered (or at least made a bit less glum) by this argument that striving for happiness is bad for us in the long run. Mari Ruti makes the case that a “happy, balanced life” depends in large part on a kind of emotional numbness.