Apropos of Mark O’Connell‘s contemplation of the Kindle is this piece by The Guardian‘s Sam Leith on what to expect if the Kindle truly does supplant the printed book.
The Kindle World
Beats Rock-a-bye Baby
Adam Mansbach’s Go The F**k to Sleep took the children’s book market — or at least the number of adults talking about the children’s book market — to a whole new level last summer. Then, weeks later, Samuel L. Jackson read parts of the story for its book trailer, and people freaked out all over again. Well, prepare yourselves yet again, folks. Now somebody’s remixed that recording into the most badass (NSFW) lullaby of all time.
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Detritus
This year, the good folks at Slate and the Whiting Foundation kicked off a new literary prize, intended to reward authors for great second novels. To wrap up the year, they’ve asked several winners of the prize, including Akhil Sharma, Helen DeWitt and Daniel Alarcon, to write short pieces about objects that symbolize the writing process for their books. (Akhil Sharma chooses a stopwatch, while Eileen Myles chooses a can of Cafe Bustelo.)
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Women and Poetry: A Discussion
Elisa Gabbert organized a roundtable discussion with several female critics to explore the twinned questions a) why are more men being published than women? and b) is it because there’s “also a lack of women writing about poetry?”
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“Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?”
In a piece for Oxford American, Mark Edmundson has an important message for incoming college freshpersons.
A Poetic Comeback
Jennifer Hizaji takes a look at the recent rise in poetry's popularity in the United States, the first increase in readers since about 2002.
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Fifty Years of Naked Lunch
A Friday afternoon pharmacy lesson at Stop Smiling: an interview with William Boroughs, celebrating 50 years of Naked Lunch.