Chekhov never published an autobiography, but he did once write a letter in which, in Chekhovian fashion, he summed up his life in a paragraph. At The Paris Review Daily, you can read the Constance Garnett translation of this letter in full. You could also check out Brendan Mathews on reading Chekhov for self-improvement.
My Life, Abridged
Kindle Highlights and Lowlights
Amazon is now aggregating the data from the "highlighting" feature on the Kindle to find out what text is highlighted the most across all Kindle users. Amazon is calling the feature "Most Highlighted Passages of All Time" and the results couldn't be more boring. (via)
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“A move that was, in a way, Chappelle’s birthright”
The thing about Dave Chappelle, writes Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah in her marvelous essay on the comedian’s family history, the success of Chappelle’s Show, and how the two informed his opinions on race, “is that he was suddenly vaulted into the awkward position of being the world’s most famous interlocutor in a conversation about race—the one conversation no one likes having.” In light of his recent heckling in Connecticut, as well as the continued misinterpretation of his comedy, “it’s easy to understand why Chappelle was done with being misread, tired of explaining, [and so he] finished talking.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Film Them
If eight Harry Potter movies weren't enough, we can expect three new Warner Brothers films about J.K. Rowling's spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The trilogy will feature the magical zoologist Newt Scamander as he goes on adventures in New York 70 years prior to the Potter characters.
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Lend Us Your Ears (And Win $100)
Have you ever heard of a dog-ear poem? Finding one could net you $100 and a one-year subscription to Found Poetry Review.
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Tweet to Win
Electric Literature and Colson Whitehead are holding a Twitter contest. Best tweet on the theme #stuffmymusesays wins a Sony Reader.
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The Most Terrifying Books
With Halloween a week away, The New York Times asked Ayana Mathis and Francine Prose about the "most terrifying" books they've read. Their choices? Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. Pair their combined essays with Flavorwire's list of "50 of the Scariest Short Stories" and our own Ben Dooley's brief review of House of Leaves's "existential terror".
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