Upon the release of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the Times profiles the spotlight-shy Katherine Boo, “Unlike many journalists Katherine Boo aspires to invisibility.”
The Times on Boo
Great 2013 (Genre) Book Preview
Some readers wanted more genre titles to appear in our Great 2013 Book Preview – even though, cough cough, literary fiction is a genre. Well, perhaps this will sate their cravings. Charlie Jane Anders rounded up 54 books she and the rest of the io9 writers are “dying to read in 2013.”
●
●
“That shit was too white.”
The introduction Junot Díaz wrote for Dismantle: An Anthology of Writing from the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop has been adapted as a contribution to the ongoing conversation (of which The Millions has been a part) about writing programs at large and about MFA vs. NYC specifically. At issue is Díaz’s (rightful) assertion that an important topic – diversity – hasn’t been adequately addressed in evaluations of the supposed program and publishing dichotomy thus far. (Related: Sandra Cisneros’s “I Hate the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.”)
Jessamine Chan’s Debut Calls Modern-Day Parenting Into Question
Is it possible to have universal standards separate from the influence of race, class, and culture? Can the teaching of parenting ever be truly objective?
●
●
●
Someone’s in Hot Water
Sure, James Cameron’s deep sea dive was cool, but talk to me when he does it in nuclear waters. Then I’ll be impressed.
●
●
The YA Diet
From Hunger Games‘s Katniss to Divergent‘s Tris, today’s YA heroines are confident, intelligent, powerful, and always skinny. At The Atlantic, Julianne Ross argues that this scrawny stereotype ends up belittling the heroines’ independence and strength. “Just as women are expected to be sexual but not slutty, pure but not prudish, heroines should be strong but not buff.”
●
●
“Books are an existential crisis”
Kyle Winkler, in an editorial for Vouched Books (which I’ve mentioned previously), writes that “books are an existential crisis” because we can’t possibly read them all.
●
●