This week in book-related internet graphics: “A Map of the Best Book for Every State,” complete with the promise that “every last one will let you understand a time and place in a more profound way than you maybe thought possible.”
The Best Book for Every State
The Comedy of Existence
“Can we ever pinpoint a person’s true identity? … How can we point to something in the world with complete accuracy, without also being meaninglessly redundant? Harpo’s answer to ‘who are you?’ is a visual-gag version of the Buddha’s infuriatingly honest answer to the same question. When asked who he was, he would say, gesturing to himself: I am thathagatha (the one who is like this).” On Groucho Marx, nihilism, and the destruction of comedy over at Slate.
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A Few Chapters Short of a Novel
Do people enjoy writers like Pynchon and Nabokov in part because they're so odd? A new paper suggests that we tend to like art when we believe its creator is eccentric. The Atlantic reads through a study that’s a bit of a strange one.
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Writers and Their Snacks
Franz Kafka liked to drink milk as he wrote. Walt Whitman liked a breakfast of cold meat and oysters. Marcel Proust was an espresso addict. This info graphic from The New York Times raises the question: what do you snack on as you write? You might also want to snack as you read that article, so check out our own Lydia Kiesling's piece from last April.
New from Diane Williams
In the most recent issue of Pank, read new fiction from Diane Williams. We review her collection Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty.
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Wild night
On Monday night Cheryl Strayed, also loved as The Rumpus's "Dear Sugar" advice columnist, was celebrated at Housing Works Bookstore. Tiffany Gibert gives us the scoop in the latest installment of #LitBeat.