Charles D’Ambrosio‘s Loitering has officially made it into our Hall of Fame. It was also a finalist for the PEN award for the Art of the Essay. Now the book’s preface is available on the PEN website, just in case all the book’s popularity and prizes haven’t yet convinced you to read it.
By Way of a Recommendation
Chemical Disruption
“The short story is an odd form, forever dying out or undergoing a revival, impossible to define, sometimes seeming to be united by being nothing more than a text which happens to occupy around thirty pages or less: novels for people who can’t be arsed reading novels. Yet the best stories in both of these books show what the form is capable of: the world reflected in a puddle, the light gleaming for an instant, fireflies.” C.D. Rose reviews New American Stories, edited by Ben Marcus, for 3:AM Magazine.
Where Can We Get a Copy
Did you know there was such a thing as the Prime Minister's Literary Awards? It's true. Since 2007, Australia has named winners annually in six categories (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's fiction, young adult fiction, and Australian history) – and the prize money's pretty good, too. Speaking of prizes, you might also want to check out the list of U.S. National Book Awards finalists here.
Tuesday New Release Day: Dovlatov; Rieger; Levine; Kaysen; Jia; Mirvis; Merwin; Wright
New this week: Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov; The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger; Hyde by Daniel Levine; Cambridge by Girl, Interrupted author Susanna Kaysen; Decoded by Mai Jia; Visible City by Tova Mirvis; The Moon Before Morning by W.S. Merwin; and Caribou by Charles Wright.
Following the Writer
Over at The Toast, see what Year in Reading Alumnus Alexander Chee has to say about The Queen of the Night, his writing process, and publishing. Our own Sonya Chung’s review of his latest novel pairs nicely.
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Then I Go To Bed
Want to know how the other side is living? Here's a detailed look at how hotel consultant and noted historian Stanley Turkel spends his Sundays.
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A Chance for Closure
E. V. De Cleyre explores the right moment to end a nonfiction story. She writes that life rarely offers conclusions, and “dealing with actual occurrences often means there is no definitive end, and even if there were (such as a death), there comes the aftermath—the grief, the coping, the rebuilding.” Pair with Sonya Chung's Millions essay on literary endings.
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SPD Books Discount
SPD Books' staff picks are 40% off!
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Against Neutrality
Over at World Literature Today, Diane Clarke writes against neutrality, capital letters, and easy translation. “I want a poetics of translation that is not just anti-assimilationist.” Pair with this Millions essay about translators at work.
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