This week in book-related infographics: an “Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips.”
Most Epic
Dreamland
Anyone who’s ever forgotten a million-dollar idea will attest to the maddening tendency of the subconscious to forget things. For many people, this extends to dreams, where the best ideas can pop up and die before the morning. But why is it so difficult to remember them? At Salon, the neuroscience behind our chronic inability to remember dreams. Related: Blake Butler’s innovative Year in Reading piece.
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The Count
“And who could disagree? Joyce Carol Oates expressed her view on Twitter: ‘Wikipedia bias an accurate reflection of universal bias. All (male) writers are writers; a (woman) writer is a woman writer.'” Wikipedia has got a women writers problem.
You’re (Printed In) Carcosa Now
The Only RX Press is calling for short stories between 1,000 and 3,000 words “related to or inspired by True Detective.” (Related: Our own Ujala Sehgal recommended five crime novels in which the women are the true detectives.)
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Tonight on 4th Avenue: Victor LaValle and Robert Lopez
Tonight at the Pacific Standard Fiction Series in Brooklyn, Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine (which, according to Edan boasts “one of the best voices to come out of literature in the last…oh, ever, probably”), will be reading with Robert Lopez, author of Kamby Bolongo Mean River. As usual, I’ll be hosting; it would be great to see you there. For more information, see Time Out New York.
More Kindle ‘Offers’
Amazon has introduced another ad-infused Kindle ‘with Special Offers.’ You can now get the 3G model, regularly $189, for $164, if you opt for a version that displays Amazon promotions on the home screen and screensaver.
Pamela or Plath?
I’m disappointed that I was only able to get 8/12 correct on the Guardian’s “Who’s the Poet: Pamela Anderson or Sylvia Plath” quiz, but I’m consoling myself with the fact that the 50% is the average.
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Creative Person, Creative Life
“How is the life of a creative person—an artist, a designer, a composer—related to his or her work?” The New Yorker lists 7 archived pieces by way of answer.