“Through such experiments, [he] seems preoccupied by the need to make this familiar form something different from what we think it is, so that it can more capably capture a reality that has fast been veering into the unreal. It’s not just that the world outside the novel has made this jump, but also that we cannot evade the world’s strangeness when the storytellers, and the characters into which they breathe life, increasingly come from such different perspectives.” On Year in Reading alum Chang-rae Lee’s new novel (which you can buy with a nifty 3D book cover).
“Cleaves closely to the forms of realism”
Is She a Betty or a Veronica?
Lena Dunham is the new voice of the Archie comics generation. The Girls creator will write four issues of the famous comic, coming out in 2015. She's not the only woman joining the comics industry. DC Comics is adding a Native American teenage girl, inspired by the real Canadian Aboriginal teen activist Shannen Koostachin, to the Justice League United.
He’s Right. Eihi Shiina is Terrifying.
I’ve mentioned my love for the movie recommendation site Netflixia before, but if you find its selection a little predictable or tame, you should give try out some of the titles on Christopher Higgs’ list of “The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Instant.” (Note: some of the list’s images might be a bit racy for work.)
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Return to Sender
"A woman I did not know called me to help her with something I have always loved to do: write. Certainly it was fate, my involvement destined to be a seed for a fairy tale ending, I thought. I was wrong," Scott Saalman writes about the moral challenges of agreeing to help someone with their writing at The Morning News.
The Published, Paralyzed Piglet
Chris P. Bacon is a young Floridian piglet that gets around these days by utilizing a makeshift wheelchair. He also just signed a three-book deal with the world’s largest self-help and motivational publisher.
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The Orange Eats Creeps Mixtape
Christopher Higgs was teaching Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps, and one of his students was inspired to make a mixtape featuring “the twisted, crusty, and often sublime characters found within the novel.” (The book, by the way, was one of my selections for Year in Reading last year.)
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“What kind of birdie are you?”
Recommended Reading: Charles Simic’s ode to Summertime. (Trust me, you’ll need this. It’s brutal outside and we need to remember why we even bother with it.)
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