At Full-Stop, Eric Jett reflects on the wisdom of a possibly apocryphal commandment by Mark Twain: “Never argue with stupid people.”
Gaining Experience
Bookstore Boon
The shuttering of Borders locations across the country, an “unusually vibrant selection” of new releases, and “customers who seem undeterred by pricier titles” have contributed to “surprisingly strong sales for many bookstores” across the country.
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80 Books You Can Read If You Want To
Last week, I told you about Rebecca Solnit’s essay “Eighty Books No Woman Should Read,” which is a tongue-in-cheek riff on Esquire’s “80 Books Every Man Must Read” list. Now, here’s a fascinating rebuttal from Electric Literature in which Sigal Samuel ponders what might be gained by reading sexist old white guys.
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“We love sentences and the people who create them.”
Christopher Newgent set up Vouched as a way to reinvigorate the book selling dynamic. By setting up guerrilla book stores and launching his Vouched Presents series, he’s had some success. You can keep tabs on their Twitter account to see when they’ll stop by your area.
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Covering Anna Karenina
We care quite a bit about book covers here at The Millions, hence our recent rounds of cover-judging. To honor the hundredth anniversary of Tolstoy’s death, Flavorwire has compiled a selection of Anna Karenina‘s many covers, and opportunities for judgement abound.
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It Can Happen Here
“It was astonishing. Utterly astonishing. Everyone of them seemed . . . entranced by him.” Sometimes older books get a second life given contemporary contexts; such is the case with Sinclair Lewis‘s 1935 It Can’t Happen Here, reports Time. The book, which was written as Hitler came to power, has sold out online. See also this New Yorker piece about a recent stage adaptation of Lewis’s semi-satirical novel.
The Widening Spell
“Ah, I think, a lizard-poet. This particular category was one I had concocted years before to describe those poets who were too Olympian to mingle with the rest of us, who stood to the side, detached, having feelings.” Remembering Larry Levis, whose book of last poems, The Darkening Trapeze, was released this past week.
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