Year in Reading contributor Kevin Smokler’s new essay collection, Practical Classics, explores the benefits of revisiting the first books you read (even if you hated them). In fact, the difficult and excruciating books have a particular value. “Books aren’t all supposed to be our best friends,” says Smokler in a new Rumpus interview. “Sometimes they’re supposed to be that difficult friend who encourages us to do things that we don’t feel are rational or grown-up.”
Practical Classics (Even When You Hate Them)
19th Century Gifs
When University of Iowa Special Collections librarian Colleen Theisen found hidden fore-edge paintings on a 19th century scientific book Autumn, she made a gif of it, of course. Then, she realized there were more secret paintings for each season and more gifs followed. Who said old books weren't interactive?
Sandusky on Amazon
The latest entity to get sucked into the Jerry Sandusky pedophile scandal that’s engulfed Penn State? Amazon. Users are leaving angry comments on the site’s comment boards about Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story, Sandusky’s unfortunately titled 2001 biography.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Adler, Nabokov, Hemon, Jansma
At long last Renata Adler's re-released Speedboat is out from NYRB Classics. The book's attracted quite a bit of (deserved) pre-release hype. Also out today are a pair of books covered in our Great 2013 Book Preview: Vladimir Nabokov's The Tragedy of Mr. Morn (no relation to yours truly) and Aleksandar Hemon's The Book of My Lives. In three days you can get your hands on Kristopher Jansma's debut novel The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards.
What Do Celebs Read?
Books from their own imprint we hope. "In the last decade, in fact, the celebrity imprint has become something of a cottage industry, an endeavor mutually beneficial to publishing houses in pursuit of stars and their lucrative fanbases and celebrities looking for another feather in their cap." Some of the celebrities on this list might surprise you, read on to learn about which ones have a publishing imprint.
The Ideal Essay
"An ideal essay is hard to define, but easy to point to. An ideal essay mines the “I” in efforts of high exposition. It is driven by a need to testify or witness, and demands the same of its reader. It is a glimpse of something uncomfortably recognizable, a requiem for the quotidian, a look over the newly-gilded edge." Samantha Tucker Iacovetto writes about "Defining the Ideal Essay" for Brevity's Nonfiction Blog
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