An election year is upon us, and at the Times, John Williams offers up some reading material for the months to come. Among the books mentioned is my favorite, Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.
Election Year Reading
Notebook on Cities and Words
"We believe in the digital with abandon. So when something of artisanal quality is placed in our hands, or we see something hanging on a wall drawn by an actual hand, we feel a little shock. We remember how to feel something. Maybe not quite an emotion, but the touch of paper does something to us. We use our senses again." Celebrating fifty years of the French publisher L’école des Loisirs, Gnaomi Siemens reflects on the power of hand-drawn images and the future of the book.
More and More Queer YA Love Stories
The Washington Post interviews four Young Adult authors whose books go beyond coming out stories, these authors want queer love stories to be mainstream. Their books range from contemporary to historical to fantasy. "As authors get more comfortable exploring LGBT storylines, the coming-out tale isn’t disappearing. 'I think we’ll always need for the foreseeable future both types of stories,” Silvera added. “While I’ve been so happy being able to live an out life, I think a lot about teens who aren’t able to be out right now and I want to write for them.' Slipping back in time to write for teenagers gives authors the opportunity to explore first love again." Take a look and consider adding these to your reading list.
Liars and Cheats
What happens when a Kickstarter campaign turns out to be a swindle?
The Lost Female Beat Poet
The Beat Generation was such a largely male-dominated literary movement that its few female writers have mostly been forgotten. At The Toast, Megan Keeling remembers Beat poet Elise Cowen, who is mostly known as Allen Ginsberg's paramour but also wrote poetry of her own. "Her surviving poetry shows a unique perspective on the rigid cultural conformity of the 1950s and also the fringe artistic community of the Beat Generation." A collection of her poetry, Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments, was just published.
Her surviving poetry shows a unique perspective on the rigid cultural conformity of the 1950s and also the fringe artistic community of the Beat Generation.
Read more at http://the-toast.net/2014/04/24/elise-cowen-and-the-female-beat-poets/#W1BLwQlomazyFTiH.99
Her surviving poetry shows a unique perspective on the rigid cultural conformity of the 1950s and also the fringe artistic community of the Beat Generation.
Read more at http://the-toast.net/2014/04/24/elise-cowen-and-the-female-beat-poets/#W1BLwQlomazyFTiH.99
Women Writers’ Firsts
Over at Ploughshares, reflect on eight women writers’ accomplishments spanning twenty-six centuries. For more impressive writing by women, read Edan Lepucki and Meaghan O’Connell's discussion of David Copperfield.
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