Hooray! Electric Literature has declared Jesse Jarnow’s Millions review of Fear of Music the winner in the category of Best Deconstruction for their occasional Critical Hit Awards.
The Millions at the Critical Hit Awards
Royals
Make of this what you will, but when Lorde first read Year in Reading alum Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, it struck her as “the best collection [she’d] ever read.” Her interview with Tavi Gevinson in Rookie reveals that she also loves Raymond Carver and Claire Vaye Watkins.
Tiger, Tiger
The second movie trailer for Ang Lee’s upcoming adaptation of Life of Pi by Yann Martel has just been released.
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The Savage Memories
“In fact, I think Plath has turned out to be a much better poet than Hughes ever was. Of course he won all the prizes, and his name is on the stones in Poet’s Corner and OK, he’s pretty good, but not that good, whereas she gets better and better.” Granta interviews the critic Al Alvarez, onetime friend of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
“Hana caraka / data sawala”
Fun Fact: the Javanese alphabet, read sequentially, comprises a pretty beautiful poem. What’s your language’s alphabet done lately?
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James Baldwin, Seen Through His Record Collection
Ikechúkwú Onyewuenyi compiled a 32-hour Spotify playlist based on James Baldwin's sprawling record collection, which includes Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Shirley Bassey, and more
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This Decadent Court
The Toast is nearing the end of its long, hilarious run. Hurry up and check out the new pieces while you still can — like this helpful guide as to whether or not you are in a Regency-era novel written after the end of the Regency, full of dead giveaways like: “There is lace at your throat and wrists and disdain in your eyes and heart.”
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Appearing Elsewhere
German readers of The Millions, if you’re out there (or people with friends in Germany): I’ll be reading in Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin this week from Ein Naturführer der amerikanischen familie. Please come!
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