Claire Vaye Watkins’s essay on pandering has gotten a lot of responses, including one from Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James. Over at NPR, they discuss the issues of sexism and racism in publishing, cultural ventriloquism, narrative authority, and more.
A Voice of Gravitas
The Station Fire in Pictures
A selection of jaw-dropping photos from the LA Times of the Station fire in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles, the largest wildfire in the LA area in modern history.
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Public Radio, Straight No Chaser
WNYC’s Jazz Loft Project series is absolutely essential listening: a portrait of New York’s bygone bohemia, complete with resident genius Thelonious Monk. And a book version is out this week from Knopf – a great gift idea for jazz lovers.
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David Foster Wallace, 1996
Recommended Listening: an interview with David Foster Wallace recorded the year Infinite Jest was published. Pair with these interviews and thoughts about what we mean when we talk about “rare” recordings.
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Prison Prose
What inspired Wally Lamb’s latest novel, We Are Water? Part of it came from his experience teaching writing at a women’s prison in Connecticut for the past 14 years. He spoke to The Missouri Review about what it’s like to teach “the incarcerated wounded” and how they have influenced his work. “With my fiction, I’ve never been afraid to go to the dark places, but I think the women have made me more daring.”
Read Fast
This week in book-related infographics: “24 Books You Can Read in Under an Hour.“
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The Revolution Will Not Be E-Read
According to some new research conducted by ebook retailer Kobo, the digital reading revolution (if it still exists) is being powered by prolific readers who are primarily female and older than forty-five. The study asserts that women make up almost seventy-five percent of “active” e-readers, defined as those who spend more than thirty minutes per day reading. What does all of this mean? Who knows, but keep reading.
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Ancient Shade
Anyone who’s read The Divine Comedy knows that rivalries and petty grudges are timeless. To further prove the point, Mallory Ortberg provided this list, which details the cattiest lines from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Sample quote: “Why do unskilled and ignorant souls disturb him who has skill and knowledge?”