“I believe that just as much as teens fear time, adults do as well. It would be selfish of us to think that they can understand and accept our evolution into adulthood much easier than we can. Maybe in reality, teenagers and parents are scared of the same things.” The LARB runs a 15-year-old reader’s honest review of The Fault in Our Stars.
Another Perspective
Nebulous Plotlines
You’ve probably heard it before: never end a story with the phrase “it was all a dream.” Unfortunately for the person who taught you this rule, many classic stories (including Anna Karenina) take place at least partially in dreams. In the NYRB, Francine Prose investigates the trope in fiction.
Challenging the Able-Bodied Gaze
"I hate the idea that you must write every day because I really can’t do that. Sometimes the aching bones in my body will not allow it." Electric Literature interviews three writers—Keah Brown, Esmé Weijun Wang, and Jillian Weise—about disability, publishing, and accessibility. From our archives: Wang's 2016 Year in Reading entry.
“I’m The King of the World!”
David Foster Wallace wrote the best bitter takedown (PDF) of the cruise ship industry ever, but he only had to endure a 7-night vacation. Imagine his horror, then, if he had been forced to spend significant time on The World, a $20,000+/month ship that continuously circumnavigates the world and has permanent passengers in its 165 private residences. For a more detailed glimpse at life on board the ship, check out Anthony Bourdain’s Gourmet piece on his 2003 visit.
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From the Ground Up
Recommended Reading: Ann Friedman on Caitlin Moran’s How to Build a Girl.
Tot Tales
Have you ever wondered how memoirists remember their childhoods so well when we can barely remember what we ate for breakfast this morning? Although losing your earliest memories is a common phenomenon called childhood amnesia, we're more likely to remember childhood if we fashion it into a story.
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Miranda July Steals
"I discovered that stealing required a loose, casual energy," writes Miranda July. "A sort of oneness with the environment, like surfing or horse-whispering."
Another Self-Publishing Triumph
Self-published novelist Kemble Scott debuts at no. 5 on the San Francisco Chronicle's bestseller list with The Sower, following a limited hard-cover release to Bay Area independent booksellers by Numina Press, who acquired the book after Scott's initial e-book upload to scribd.com in May. According to Publisher's Weekly, "The Sower has had one of the most unorthodox publishing trajectories in these changing publishing times."
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Kubrick at the LACMA
Recommended Viewing: The Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The event will run through June 2013, but you can check out some images of the exhibit online.
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