A question that plagues American writers: how would the lit world be different if everybody followed the rules in The Elements of Style? The answer: it would look like this.
Style-Elements
Curiosities: The King of Pop
Appearing Elsewhere 1: Be sure to check the Tournament of Books on Monday for Max's judgment. Which will be the victor, Shadow Country or The Lazarus Project?Appearing Elsewhere 2: Check out Millions contributor Emily's review of D.J. Taylor's Bright Young People: The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age at The Washington Times.Further Reading: Many additions have been made to The Millions' Collaborative Atlas of Book Stores and Literary Places. Don't forget to add your own favorite spots."Inventor Paolo Bizziocchi proposes that it would be easier to read text if it were sloped downhill from left to right." And he has a patent!Michael Jackson is auctioning off a whole bunch of his possessions April 22-25 in Beverly Hills. The catalogues are entitled King of Pop: A once in a lifetime Auction Featuring the Personal Property of Michael Jackson. Definitely curious.Following up on the D.T. Max profile of David Foster Wallace (on which Garth weighed in), Max has answered some questions at the New Yorker website.The longlist of Orange Prize nominees has been announced and we're happy to see that debut novelist and Millions Year in Reading contributor V.V. Ganeshananthan is one of them.Book clubs are supposed to be for books, even if you're in elementary school.
Fitzgerald’s Football
"F. Scott Fitzgerald is known as one of America's greatest authors, but was he also responsible for one of football's most important strategic advances? Maybe. Possibly. Probably not." Kevin Draper writes about Fitzgerald's love and possible genius for the game.
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Meet the Lancasters
Hazel Grace has a family now. True Blood's Sam Trammell will play Hazel's dad in the film adaptation of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Last month, our own Nick Moran reported that Laura Dern joined the cast as Hazel's mom. With the Lancaster family complete, filming will start in Pittsburgh at the end of this month. If you still haven't read the book yet, let our own Janet Potter convince you.
Kafka Who?
When you think "Franz Kafka," it typically isn't his sunny disposition that comes to mind. According to Reiner Stach, this new collection of ephemera, however, seeks to challenge the tired, old conception of Kafka-as-tortured neurotic. Here's a Millions review of Stach's twin biographies of Kafka, himself.
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