Out this week: Levels of Life by Julian Barnes; The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri; Between Friends by Amos Oz; and a new paperback edition of The Round House by Louise Erdrich. For more information on these books and other new titles, check out our Great Second-half 2013 Book Preview.
Tuesday New Release Day: Barnes, Lahiri, Oz, Erdrich
Hugo Lindgren’s AMA
Hugo Lindgren, editor of The New York Times Magazine, participated in a pretty nifty Reddit Ask Me Anything installment. When one commenter asked him how long it takes to prepare each week’s Meh List, Lindgren wrote, “The Meh list never stops. The actual compilation of it is lickety split but the hunt for Meh is eternal.” He also admitted that two of his favorite magazine stories are Mark Jacobson’s “Night-Shifting for the Hip Fleet” and John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” [Reg. Req.].
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Books Cooked
And the Heart Says Whatever author Emily Gould has been combining two of our favorite things, books and food in an online cooking show called "Cooking the Books." Past episodes have included Sam Lipsyte (cooking pork buns) and Joanna Smith Rakoff (cooking brunch).
The Door to Another World
Recommended Reading: A new short story by Whiting Award-winner Alice Sola Kim.
Facebook’s Fakery
Facebook's amended S-1 to its IPO was filed this week, and the details confirm some of the doubts raised in the last filing. The company estimates that between 5-6% of its most active users could in fact be "duplicate" (read: fake) accounts. Put in more concrete terms, of Facebook's estimated 850 million users, 46,475,000 may be like this one. (46 million, by the way, is roughly the population of Colombia, Spain, or Ukraine.)
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Olio
We thoroughly enjoyed the latest episode of David Naimon's Between the Covers podcast featuring Whiting-Award winner Tyehimba Jess. The conversation centers on Jess's latest book, Olio, a tour de force hybrid-genre exploration of African-American performers from the period just before the American Civil War through World War I. (Previously: We recommended Jess's Leadbelly as perfect reading for train travel.)
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Julia Whicker’s Song of the Exile
What to do when novel writing gets painful? Start a fashion blog.
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