“You have always been a dark labyrinth”
Whither the Bookshops?
The 1.5 million people who live in the Bronx lack a general interest bookstore, classifying their borough as one of a growing number of "book deserts" across the country. To combat this trend, the National Book Foundation just launched "The Book Rich Environment Initiative." Meanwhile, Juma'a Ali runs a popular bookshop in a UN-administered refugee camp near the South Sudanese city of Malakal.
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Support Indie Publishers
Recommended Reading: Nathan Scott McNamara writes for The Atlantic on why we need indie publishers. “Eighty percent of U.S. books are produced by the Big Five publishers, but with each passing year—and with a stable small number of annual releases—independent presses are earning more of the literary conversation, gaining frequent articles and reviews in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and more.” You could also read Rebecca J. Novelli’s thoughts on Roberto Calasso’s The Art of the Publisher.
Perry’s “Oops”
"Oops is everything that Perry could not do if he still wanted to be President." What you missed while not watching last night's Republican Debate in Detroit.
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The Sorrows of Lot
At The Rumpus, Kate Angus argues that salt, far from being simply a pillar of the spice trade, is in fact “the physical manifestation of the basic triad of our lives: love, work, and grief.”
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