Chief among your more anxiety-producing kinds of literature is the genre of books geared towards expectant mothers. Examples of the genre offer every bit of advice imaginable — much of it contradictory — and condemn a laundry list of relatively common behaviors. At Salon, our own Lydia Kiesling recounts her own dive into the pregnancy-lit waters. This might also be a good time to read fellow staff writer Edan Lepucki on the perils of reading while expecting.
What to Expect
“Hana caraka / data sawala”
Fun Fact: the Javanese alphabet, read sequentially, comprises a pretty beautiful poem. What’s your language’s alphabet done lately?
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Tuesday New Release Day
Laura Miller of Salon recommends Tana French’s new crime-fiction novel Faithful Place: “makes Philip Marlowe’s L.A. look like a church picnic. French herself doesn’t play by the rules…” Also out recently is a new edition of James Salter’s short story collection Dusk and Other Stories, with a new introduction by former Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch.
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Cities
The Atlantic asks, “Why do cities matter?” In its own way, n+1‘s City by City series can be read as a response.
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Table 4 Grant
Elaine Kaufman supported writers at her restaurant when she was alive, and the Table 4 Writers Foundation keeps her legacy going with its grant. The third annual writers’ grants contest will award a $5,000 grand prize and two $2,500 prizes for promising writers. Applications are due by November 15 and can be submitted here. For more on Kaufman, read our own Bill Morris’s tribute.
Digital Textbook Rentals
Amazon is going to start allowing Kindle users to “rent” textbooks. The best part? You can keep your notes after the book is returned.
“I learned to look outward more”
“There are dangers for an artist in any academic environment,” says former Poetry editor Christian Wiman, who now teaches at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. “Academia rewards people who know their own minds and have developed an ironclad confidence in speaking them. That kind of assurance is death for an artist.”
Gosling to Direct His own Film
Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling will direct a “fantasy noir” film he wrote entitled How to Catch a Monster. It’ll star his Drive cast-mate Christina Hendricks.
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Timekeepers
Need some more Jeanette Winterson in your life? The New Statesman is here with a short story. Titled “Gnomon,” it centers on a medieval blacksmith, Stephen, who’s asked to create his town’s first mechanical clock. Sample quote: “Time is irregular. One hour is not the same length as another.”
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