Chinese poet Su Hui composed an 841-character array in the fourth century that can be read forward, backward, horizontally, diagonally, and vertically. The poem, entitled “Xuanji Tu,” can be read in 2,848 different ways as a result.
Su Hui’s Masterpiece Palindrome
Discussing ‘A Wrinkle in Time’
Recommended reading: a piece for The Toast "In Which Three Adults Discuss A Wrinkle in Time Seriously and At Length." Related: A Wrinkle in Time may finally become a (good) movie.
the squid write the Wikipedia
Missed the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend? The paper has some great short pieces on the panels that took place, including this one on an event called "Whimsical Visions, " in which rising star Etgar Keret imagined Wikipedia as written by future squids.
“My awareness and relationship with covers began nearly a decade ago.”
Craig Mod’s superb take on book cover design in the digital age, “Hack the Cover,” is really worth the read.
Kazuo Ishiguro To Publish First Novel in Ten Years
Next March, Kazuo Ishiguro will publish his first novel since Never Let Me Go. The new book, entitled The Buried Giant, is said to be about "lost memories, love, revenge and war.”
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Spinal Tap
“Who is this woman?...What yoga DVD did she escape from?” Chloë Schama criticizes the recent trend in book covers featuring women with their backs turned to the reader, including Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth and John Irving's In One Person.
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Tuesday New Release Day
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan drops today. Our review. Also out recently are Walks With Men, a novella by Ann Beattie, and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, a novel from Aimee Bender. This week also sees the long-awaited posthumous publication of Henry Roth's An American Type. Another recent posthumous publication: Robert Walser's mysterious Microscripts.