The Hunger Games raked in $155 million in its opening weekend. That makes it the highest-grossing non-sequel debut of all time. Over at Salon, Laura Miller tracks the steps that led to the blockbuster’s mammoth success.
May the odds be ever in your favor, Suzanne Collins.
Imagining My Way In
Recommended (Heartbreaking) Reading: On a father’s suicide and a son’s journey to learn a bit about the life of the man he hardly even knew.
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Dispatch from Spain
Over at the Literary Hub, Valerie Miles writes about the life and work of Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes. His forthcoming novel On the Edge is the first of his books to be translated into English and one of the most anticipated books of 2016.
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One With Others
“She was to me and so many poets an exemplary and inimitable figure. And I mean to emphasize the tension between ‘exemplary’ and ‘inimitable’—what her example taught us was the necessity of going our own way, of being one with others.” Ben Lerner remembers C.D. Wright, who passed away earlier this week.
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El Diablo
As part of the latest chapter of the McConnaissance, Matthew McConaughey has been tipped to star in The Stand, the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novel. McConnaughey is expected to play Randall Flagg, the malevolent sorcerer and necromancer. In the words of director Josh Boone, who also directed The Fault in our Stars, the movie will be “the Godfather of post-apocalyptic thrillers.” This might be a good time to read our own Lydia Kiesling on growing up with Stephen King.
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Keep An Open Mind About It
From the annals of Wikipedia: would you rather have Witzelsucht or Foerster’s syndrome? Whichever you decide, it looks like neuron your own with this one.
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Forty Stories
The wonderful folks at Harper Perennial are giving away a free PDF of forty short stories from the likes of Adam Wilson, Blake Butler, Roxane Gay, Kyle Minor, and many more. On July 17th, the group will also release Forty Stories as a free eBook through “all the major retailers,” too.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith in conversation
Carve out some time to watch all forty-five minutes of Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s recent “Between the Lines” conversation if you want to find out why Americanah qualifies as Adichie’s “fuck you” book. (You can also just skip to the 16:16 mark if you’re unable to carve out enough time.)