The idea of having to diagram a sentence still gives us nightmares, but Pop Chart Lab has diagrammed opening lines of famous novels, including those as simple as Slaughterhouse-Five and as complex as Don Quixote.
Beautiful Sentence Diagrams
Reading Childhood
NPR launched a new storybook project on Tuesday. Check out their Tumblr and see what parents (for example, Amy Chua and Edwidge Danticat) are reading to their kids. Pair with our own Kevin Hartnett’s essay on reconnecting with children’s books as an adult.
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The Very Picture of Guilt
If the prospect of dealing with Frankenstorm is harshing your mellow this Halloween, you might want to look at The Paris Review Daily’s illustrated Telltale Heart.
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A Few More Goodbyes
Hopefully you've read Eryn Loeb’s Millions review of Goodbye to All That, a collection of essays by noted writers on the weird sorrow of leaving New York City. Contributors include Dani Shapiro, whom we interviewed back in October, Emma Straub, who wrote an essay for The Millions back in July, and Millions staff writer Emily St. John Mandel. At the LARB, Mason Currey says he dreaded reading the book out of fear that it would raise old anxieties, but then says that his hesitations “quickly evaporated” when he started reading.
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Bill Morris at the Half King
Live in NYC? Want to hear our own Bill Morris read from his latest novel? Then stop by the Half King this Monday at 7 p.m. Bill won't just be reading -- he'll also be spinning songs by James Brown, Smokey Robinson and more.
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Hell is Other People
The Morning News posts a terrific (if slightly ingenuous?) take on the vacuity of the poet's life in NYC: Frank O'Hara it ain't. Whether this is a failure of the city, or merely of the poet, is an open question. (via The Book Bench).
A Lust for Lists
"Why do we lust for lists?" Sandra M. Gilbert may not have an answer, but she does have a response to all those "100 Best American Novels" lists (and a list of her own). The Millions has a few lists too, of course - be sure to check out Janet Potter's "28 Books You Should Read If You Want To."
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