Today marks the opening round of the always-worth-following Morning News Tournament of Books. In the ring, Adam by Ariel Schrag faces off against The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, in a match refereed by Matthea Harvey. For background, you could read our review of The Bone Clocks.
Tournament of Books Kicks Off
Watching Alice Munro
You may have heard that Alice Munro couldn’t make it to Sweden to accept this year’s Nobel prize. Instead, she made a video, which you can watch in full on the Nobel Prize committee’s website. (You could also read Ben Dolnick’s beginner’s guide to her work, or else read my essay on the meaning of her win.) (h/t The Paris Review)
More Marginalia
Sam Anderson’s brilliant Year in Marginalia inspires MobyLives to announce the “Melville House Marginalia Contest.”
Reading Retreats
“Why not plan a vacation dedicated exclusively to reading?” asks Salon‘s Laura Miller.
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The War on Baby Girls
We’re headed toward a future with a “biologically unnatural excess of males,” writes Nicholas Eberstadt. Indeed, “It’s a girl” can be recognized among “the three deadliest words in the world.”
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The Scream
Edvard Munch’s The Scream recently garnered a record breaking $119.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York. Despite the “tasty narrative potential” of the iconic artwork, the Pulitizer Prize winning art critic Holland Cotter thinks that the painting’s new owner spent their vast sum of money unwisely.
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Keeping Up with the Chip World
Are you a computer? Do you reside in a tasteful brownstone in Park Slope or Fort Greene? If so, you surely keep up with The New York Review of Bots. (If not, you must be embarrassed.) (h/t Jared Keller)