Curious what the Obamas will be reading over Christmas? The Scrutinizer in Chief stopped by Upshur Books in Washington, D.C. on Small Business Saturday to selected a nice little haul for the winter break with titles ranging from Jonathan Franzen’s Purity to Rachel Renée Russell’s Dork Diaries 1: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life.
ROTUS
On That F*ckin’ “A”
Members of the Word Reference forum contemplate the etymology and meaning of the “A” in the expression, “Fuckin’ A.” Elsewhere Geoffrey Nunberg, linguist and author of Assholism: The First Sixty Years, shares his take on the ubiquitous “a-word,” which he believes originated during World War II.
●
●
A Letter from a Friend
Recommended Reading: Orrin Devinsky remembers his best friend, Oliver Sacks.
●
●
#LitBeat hits LitQuake for a LitQuiz
Our own Lydia Kiesling hit up our own Patrick Brown's Goodreads LitQuiz to battle for first place in the competitive world of San Franciscan Literary Trivia, and wrote up her trivial trials and tribulations for #LitBeat.
Shiny Unhappy People
Julia Fierro discusses her new book Cutting Teeth and the anxiety of privileged Americans in the digital age with Tin House. "They should be happy, but they aren’t, and they are aware that they are not and that they should be, and this awareness makes them loathe themselves."
Red Herring
Languagehat points to the curious origins of the idiom "red herring."
●
●
Bright Star
Keats on film! See the trailer for Jane Campion's Bright Star.
●
●
Put on Your Thinking/Dunce Cap
At Slate, David Wolf reviews a new biography of Rene Descartes, who he claims has developed a reputation as the philosophy world’s favorite punching bag.
●
●