New this week: a pair of highly anticipated collections, Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash and Middle Men by Jim Gavin. Also out is Michael Hainey’s intriguing memoir chronicling his investigation into his father’s mysterious death, After Visiting Friends.
Tuesday New Release Day: Rash, Gavin, Hainey
“We call this fandemonium”
Reuters has a short piece on The Hunger Games and the long tradition of American Literary tourism. Well, when in Rome... or Atlanta...
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Start Something New
A Betsy Lerner follower asks Betsy what to do when you hit the wall at page 60 of your novel--of every novel you try to write. Betsy's answer? Try novellas.
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The Keys Speak
"'All of these things happened to me with keys,’ she says. 'It was as if the keys were saying, “Don't talk about us.” It was as if they didn't like it.’" Year in Reading alum Helen Oyeyemi discusses her fascination with keys and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours at NPR. For writing from the author, check out her piece on Silvina Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces.
Secret Machines
Recommended Reading: Cody Delistraty's interview with Kazuo Ishiguro. You could also read our own Lydia Kiesling on the author's new novel The Buried Giant.
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Poetry and Joy
“I really do hate the idea that black joy itself is a joy derived in spite of. While it may indeed include that, limiting it to such assumes that joy among black people only exists as a defiant response to oppression from white people. I’d rather believe that black folk are capable of this deep supernatural sense without having to be enslaved or disenfranchised.” For the Boston Review, Jericho Brown on poetry and joy.
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True Romance
We might mock romance readers for how much Kleenex they go through, but they're more emotionally perceptive than others. A new study on the interpersonal sensitivity of readers found that romance readers are better at discerning facial cues and emotion than other literati. But don't worry if you aren't a Nicholas Sparks fan; reading any genre makes you more empathetic, as we've reported on before.