Looking for a place to burn those vacation days? How about outer space, or one of the other 44 places tapped by The New York Times?
Orbital Vacations
Tuesday New Release Day: Irving, Morrison, Mantel, Colbert, Patchett
Time to dust off the old John Irving Recurring Themes Matrix because his new book In One Person is out today. Also out are Home by America's last Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison and Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel's hotly anticipated sequel to Booker- and Rooster-winning Wolf Hall. Also out is I Am a Pole, Stephen Colbert's "children's book" that was inspired by an epic visit from Maurice Sendak. Out in paperback is Ann Patchett's State of Wonder.
Wollstonecraft’s Legacy
“Inspired by her governess, the radical feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, Margaret King cast aside her immense privilege, cross-dressed as a man to go to medical school, and inspired a new generation of women to push against the rigid conventions of their era.” Meet Margaret King at Longreads.
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Quarterly’s Subscription Service
Cool idea from Quarterly: a subscription service “that enables people to receive physical items in the mail from influential contributors of their choice.” I mean, who wouldn’t want some mail from Maud Newton, Jason Kottke, and Maria Popova (Brain Pickings)?
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Don’t Just Stand There
Choire Sicha discusses the use of the phrase “from the sidelines.” (h/t The Awl)
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Master Palindromist
Today's long read begins like this: "In March 2010, Barry Duncan, master palindromist, was locked in an epic struggle with the alphabet."
The Fisher Queen
"The Disney character I most strongly identify with is the Beast before he learns how not to emotionally attack everyone around him, so." Over at The Toast, Mallory Ortberg tells us why she is the perfect candidate for the job of Fisher King. T.S. Eliot would be proud. Or likely horrified.
Teaching STEM: Comics to Video Games
While the federal government is turning to video games to get kids into the math and sciences, back in the day comic books provided a near-direct link to young minds. But the medium wasn’t warmly received by the older generation (sound familiar?), and the company debated whether it was worth taking a hit with parents in order to appeal to their kids.
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