Alexander Nazaryan joins legions of hand wringers in this short rumination on children’s reading and e-reading. Me, I just want it both ways.
But I wanna have it both ways.
Parenthetical Power
Parentheses aren’t just the mark of a lazy or verbose writer. They can also bracket personal pain in a narrative. At The New York Review of Books, Christopher Benfey explores the power of the parenthetical detail, such as Lolita‘s “My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three.” Pair with: Vulture’s “The 5 Best Punctuation Marks in Literature.”
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The Commitment-phobe’s Genre
The essay is more than just a literary genre but a lifestyle, and it’s dominating American society, Christy Wampole argues. “The genre and its spirit provide an alternative to the dogmatic thinking that dominates much of social and political life in contemporary America,” she writes.
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Jenny Zhang on the Importance of Funny Writers
Jenny Zhang on "the hardest and most worthwhile thing to achieve in writing:" making people laugh.
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iWalser, iBradbury
David Wright recommends five works perfectly suitable for smartphone reading.
The Flowers of the Caper
You will not want to miss these fragments on writing, publishing, and remaining anonymous by the enigmatic Italian writer Elena Ferrante. This Millions essay by Cora Currier on reading Italy through Ferrante’s work pairs quite nicely.
Thinking and Feeling
How to read a Victorian novel. How to read in public. How to start a Tumblr for Women.
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Emily St. John Mandel Sees Other People
Our own Emily St. John Mandel, whose novel The Lola Quartet not only released this month but also made Maud Newton’s travel list (so you know it’s good!), sits down with Brad Listi for an Other People Podcast.
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