Do friendships form because of shared interests, or do those interests develop due to the friendship? Facebook reveals that music and film make friendships; books, not so much.
Do Books Make Friendships?
Sturm und Drang
“For Germany, the Wagners are what the Atreidai are in Greek mythology. One of them, Atreus, committed a grave sin, casting a curse over all subsequent generations, beginning with Agamemnon and Menelaus, followed by Iphigenia, Orestes and Electra. The family is marked by enmity, as is the Wagner family.” On a certain influential composer.
Burning Libraries
An arsonist broke into the University of Missouri's Ellis Library, but Robert Long Foreman's dismayed for more than that reason.
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Down the Rabbit Hole
Recommended Reading: In her new memoir, Joyce Carol Oates praises Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass as “the singular book that changed my life – that made me yearn to be a writer.”
The Investigation of Feeling
“I think it’s important that poets exist in societies because they exist in the realm of affect. Feeling is important to them. How people feel, what they feel, what breaks them, how trauma resonates through their lives... that’s a legitimate space in poetry. It’s a legitimate space for investigation.” Aaron Coleman interviews Citizen author Claudia Rankine about intimacy, her writing process, and her experience in an MFA program.
Book Scrapping
Not enough shelf space? Pay the people at 1DollarScan to scan and digitize your paper books into searchable PDF files for $1/100 pages.
Good Ol’ USA Trilogy
"While the revolutionary milieu that was the source of many of the book’s events may have vanished, we have our own milieu." At The Rumpus, Will Augerot re-evaluates John Dos Passos's The USA Trilogy. He concludes that Dos Passos is more relevant than ever. Pair with: Our essay on the polyphonic novel.