Speaking of innovative publishing, Tin House released a new edition of Whitman‘s “Song of Myself” illustrated by Allen Crawford on May 16th. There’s a book trailer, and selected pages from the finished book can be seen here.
Whitman Illuminated
Bookends on Russian Literature
To accompany this infographic on Russian literature, The New York Times asked Francine Prose and Benjamin Moser what makes 19th century Russian writing so distinctive. Pair with our own Matt Seidel‘s take on rejected Bookends questions.
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Practical Classics (Even When You Hate Them)
Year in Reading contributor Kevin Smokler’s new essay collection, Practical Classics, explores the benefits of revisiting the first books you read (even if you hated them). In fact, the difficult and excruciating books have a particular value. “Books aren’t all supposed to be our best friends,” says Smokler in a new Rumpus interview. “Sometimes they’re supposed to be that difficult friend who encourages us to do things that we don’t feel are rational or grown-up.”
My Life
Peg Plunkett was an 18th-century Dublin courtesan who decided one day to make some money by publishing a series of memoirs. Now, over two hundred years after Plunkett sketched out her life story, Professor Julie Peakman has rewritten all three volumes for a modern audience. In a piece for The New Statesman, Sarah Dunant reviews her edition of Plunkett’s oeuvre.
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The Alfar
If you run into trouble in Iceland, blame the elves. 54.4 percent of Icelanders believe in the invisible creatures, and elves cause environmental protest today. “Beliefs in misfortune befalling those who dare to build in elf territory is so widespread and frequent that the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration has created a five-page ‘standard reply’ for press inquiries about elves,” Ryan Jacobs writes for The Atlantic. Pair with: our essay on Icelandic writer Sjón.
The Books That Break Reading Slumps
Michael Seidlinger asks authors about the books and writers that got them out of particularly tough reading slumps.
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Tom Hanks Joins Dave Eggers Adaptation
Tom Hanks and Cloud Atlas director Tom Tykwer are reuniting for a cinematic adaptation of Dave Eggers’s Hologram for the King. Previously Walkmen lead singer Hamilton Leithauser named Eggers’s book in his most recent Year in Reading post.