The New York Public Library has bought psychedelic guru Timothy Leary’s papers. The 335 boxes contain journals, videotapes, photographs and thousands of letters from avid trippers, including Allen Ginsberg, Aldous Huxley, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey and, yes, Cary Grant.
NYPL Gets Trippy
A Consolation Prize
In the wake of her 2016 Presidential loss, Hillary Clinton's best-selling book What Happened sparked the question: "Would you rather be president of the United States or a No. 1 best-selling author?" The Washington Post asked several authors including Cheryl Strayed, Erik Larson, and Joyce Carol Oates for their thoughts. See also our interview with Strayed from our archives.
West Hollywood Library Auction
In addition to signed first editions and fancy restaurant dinners, the silent auction for West Hollywood's new library included a special-edition signature mattress set.
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24-0
Over at The Paris Review, basketball columnist (and really great poet) Rowan Ricardo Phillips has written a compelling essay on Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry, hot streaks, and the tenability of genius. Jacob Lambert’s essay on reading about (and not watching) sports is a nice complement.
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Bracketologists: Apply Here
With the NCAA’s March Madness tournament winding down, and with The Morning News’s Tournament of Books drawn to a close, you can still indulge your bracketological yearnings by participating in Powell’s Books’s Poetry Madness or by checking out NPR’s Ides of March Madness.
“Old Jazz Record!”
You may have heard that Haruki Murakami has a new book on shelves. Woody Brown reviewed it for The Millions last week. Over at Electric Lit, Lincoln Michel invites us to play Murakami Bingo, created by Grant Snider, once again. It might also be a good time to read Ben Dooley on 1Q84.
Just Listen
For this month's fiction podcast at the New Yorker, Edwidge Danticat reads two Jamaica Kincaid stories, "Girl" and "Wingless," following the publication of Kincaid's recent See Now Then.