New today are Peter Carey’s The Chemistry of Tears and China Mieville’s Railsea. And Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 is now out in a snazzy three-volume boxed-set paperback edition.
Tuesday New Release Day: Carey, Mieville, Murakami
Choose Your Highsmith!
The fine folks at Norton have made all of Patricia Highsmith's books available in eBook format, and to celebrate the move, they've crafted a website dedicated to the author's work. Choose Your Highsmith features a recommendation engine while will instantly pick a Highsmith book to match your selected criteria. There's also a great video in which Alison Bechdel, Robert Weil (Highsmith's editor at Norton), Joan Schenkar (Highsmith's biographer), and Terry Castle share their love for the author of the Mr. Ripley series.
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The Academic Life
Whether or not you believe that Oxford University Press is “the largest, most diverse and most respected university press in the world,” you’ll appreciate this review of a new history of the company, which goes through OUP's origins, its relationship with its namesake and the opening of its New York office in 1896.
Why’d They Burn the Archives?
Did mysterious bureaucrats authorize the destruction of historical documents in North Carolina in order to cover up “a paper trail associated with one or more now-prominent, politically connected NC families that found its wealth and success through theft, intimidation, and outrageous corruption?” That’s Constance Hall Jones’s suspicion. Bonus: Part two, which includes a timeline. (h/t Lydia Kiesling)
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The “Chicken Breast” of Spirits
How has a spirit legally defined as being "without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color" flourished in today's economic climate? Victorino Matus' Weekly Standard article explores the history and ubiquity of vodka. Perhaps this article is best paired with something from NPR's list of "Great American Writers and Their Cocktails."
You are Katniss
Ever spent the whole day reading The Hunger Games and then found yourself paranoid that a tribute was following you? Don't worry; you aren't crazy. Turns out that reading a really gripping novel can cause our brains to believe we are in the body of the protagonist, and this effect can last for days after reading according to a scientific study.
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