Recommended Reading: This essay by Muna Mire and Messiah Rhodes on private policing in Detroit, Michigan. These few Millions essays on the Motor City will satisfy your Detroit fix.
Lions, and Tigers, and Fords
‘Tis the season
‘Tis the season for book gifting and sales! Danielle Dutton‘s Dorothy, a publishing project, is offering a special holiday deal on its two seasons of terrific books.
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When is a Blog Not a Blog?
The New York Review of Books gets into the blog game with…well, it’s not a blog, exactly, but then I guess neither are we these days. With The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post also clamoring for the attention of bookish web-surfers, there’s more book-focused content online than ever. So why do I find most of it gives me a headache?
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Oldest Books
The fine folks at the Vintage and Anchor Tumblr account have compiled a list of the ten oldest books known to man.
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The Story Writer and His Writer Friend
Beautiful Ruins author (and Year in Reading favorite) Jess Walter describes “the genesis of a story.”
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Story Arcs
Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut, researchers programmed a computer to identify the main arcs in stories. You could also read our editor Lydia Kiesling’s review of Vonnegut’s Letters.
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Everyone Gets a Badge
Over at the Observer, Brent Underwood writes on how he self-published a fake book on Amazon. He sold a total of three copies, enough for him to earn the #1 Best Seller badge in several categories. Now his fake book has landed an actual book deal and is available in paperback.
Fire Good…But Also Bad
I’m loving these Time Travel posters from 826LA’s Echo Park Time Travel Mart. (via).
Tuesday New Release Day: Hensher, Smith, Morgenstern, Southgate
Booker-snubbed, but still widely anticipated, Philip Hensher’s King of Badgers is out today. As are Ali Smith’s There But for The, Erin Morgenstern’s uber-hyped debut The Night Circus, and The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate, who wrote here about writers’ work getting better as they get older.
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