Gently Simmer
On “Unpacking My Library”
There's a lot of (justified) talk about the power of reading, but simply owning a book can be meaningful. Mabel Rosenheck considers Walter Benjamin's perspective on book ownership - "[it] is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them." - and her own experiences with book collecting in San Francisco in an essay for The Toast. Pair with Anne Fadiman's essay on relationships, books, and relationships with books, "Marrying Libraries."
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Familiar Choices
At NPR’s blog, Meg Wolitzer chooses five summer books that deserve more attention from readers. If you’re a Millions regular, though, you may find her selections a wee bit familiar, seeing as we reviewed Jessica Soffer’s book, interviewed This Is Running For Your Life author Michelle Orange and published The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards author Kristopher Jansma.
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A Supposedly Fun Thing We Aren’t Sure About
David Foster Wallace has become an American legend in his own right, so it makes sense that he'll be coming to the big screen soon. Jason Segel will play the famous writer in an adaptation of David Lipsky's Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself with Jesse Eisenberg as Lispky. Can one movie handle this much neurosis?
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Insult to Insult
“Who was Bret Easton Ellis describing when he tweeted: 'The best example of a contemporary male writer lusting for a kind of awful greatness that he simply wasn't able to achieve'?” The Guardian has a delicious quiz of literary putdowns. And speaking of fighting, let's talk about books about violence.