Idolizing Hemingway

“(The Great Gatsby) is often considered the greatest American novel of the 20th century—I waver on that sometimes but I love the beauty of its writing, its tabloid immediacy, the high body count, its modernistic touches, the relentless drama put into its novella-length form.” Bret Easton Ellis’s top ten favorite books doesn’t include many surprises, but it’s worth a look.

At The New Republic, Andre Dubus III, whose memoir Townie just came out in paperback, riffs on “love in class-riven America.”

Your eyes do not deceive you, Rumpus readers — Margaret Atwood sat down for this week’s Sunday interview. She talks with Gina Frangello about her novel-in-excerpts, Positron, along with the art of responding to readers on Twitter. (You can also check out her piece for Year in Reading.)

Four days ago, The New York Times exposed the practice of purchasing five-star reviews on Amazon. So far, few have offered solutions. A Reddit user explains how to properly read Amazon review graphs through the cloud of purchased hype. Erin Keane calls for independent writers to hold themselves to higher standards.