“There is something ersatz, if not quite fraudulent, about [Alain] de Botton’s entire intellectual enterprise.” At The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lisa Levy throws down the gauntlet.
The School of Life
Writing While Pretty
“I very quickly realized that if you want to seem as a serious writer, you can’t possibly look like a person who looks in the mirror.” Author, Boots spokesperson, Year-in-Reading alum, and all-around badass Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks to The New York Times about beauty, feminism, and writing.
●
●
Ask a Librarian
"Is it possible to keep an octopus in a private home?" "Are Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates the same person?" Oh, the things people have asked reference librarians.
●
●
Who Wrote What?
Do you want to work at The Strand in New York City? Think you have what it takes? Take this famous quiz and match each work with its author to see if you have the literary chops to pick up a paycheck from one of the United States's most beloved bookstores.
●
●
Welcome to Book Town
"Book lore and book history and everything around them, to do with libraries or culture, I think it centers so much of civilization." Atlas Obscura interviewed journalist Alex Johnson about his forthcoming title, Book Towns, which explores off-the-beaten-path towns bursting with bookshops.
One comment:
Add Your Comment: Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Death of a Reader
Now that Google Reader is nearing its official death, the people who used to depend on it are waxing nostalgic about its heyday. At Page-Turner, Joshua Rothman remembers the feeds he once relied on.
●
●
A Narrative Made Up of Many Narratives
Elizabeth Karp-Evans interviews How to Read a Novelist author John Freeman about editing, American narratives, and his goals for Freeman’s.
●
●
“There is something ersatz, if not quite fraudulent, about [Alain] de Botton’s entire intellectual enterprise.” At The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lisa Levy throws down the gauntlet.
I’ve been checking out Mr. de Botton’s books since 1998. Ersatz? Hoooey. Fraudulent? How dare you!
I find his mind limpid, curious, original, and congenitally non-elitist (and that’s coming from a blue collar gal). Loved his book on travel. Who else had the concept of “traveling” around the four corners of your own bedroom, and had the openness to “see” so much there? Who else set up his work desk smack in the middle of a busy airport terminal to chat and converse with the teeming crowd?
In addition, I think de Botton has a special talent for distilling complex ideas into a deceptively simple form. Not as easy as it looks.
Finally, if there’s any harm in folks gathering together at a London storefront after work to discuss Love, Travel, Sex, and everything else rather than sit brain-dead before the telly, I’ll never be the one to see it.
A sour and axe-grindish article, Los Angeles Review of Books!
Sincerely,
Maureen Murphy
(“Moe Murph”)