Recommended Reading: This bizarre little story by Diane Williams as recommended by Deb Olin Unferth at Electric Literature. The story can be found in Williams’ recently published collection of stories Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine.
No Slight Thing
Reading Poetry
"The very best way to read a poem is perhaps to be young, intelligent, and slightly drunk." The Atlantic offers 20 strategies for reading poetry, and they pair well with Leah Falk's look at "Performance Anxiety: When Poets Read Aloud."
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Grammatical Tweets
Are birds’ tweets grammatical? According to a recent study by Kentaro Abe and Dai Watanabe of Kyoto University, songbirds may communicate using sophisticated grammar.
The Deepest Feeling
“Love / is the only fortress / strong enough to trust to.” Mary-Kay Wilmers for the London Review of Books reviews Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore. In the book, Moore’s slightly-bizarre domestic life is examined with fairness and honesty alongside her impressive body of work. If poetry is your thing, check out our On Poetry column for more.
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Commas, Commas, and More Commas
The outcome of a court judgment concerning a dispute between a dairy company and its delivery drivers hinged on a grammar. Specifically, what does the Oxford comma signify?
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Critic-in-Chief
“She could be a diva, says this source, 'but in a way I fucking admire it. The world would be a sorrier place without divas.'” For New York magazine, Boris Kachka on the drama behind Michiko Kakutani's departure from The New York Times and what her absence means for the world of books. Consider also: our own Matt Seidel's rogue's gallery of prominent critics.
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The Bard of Florida
After passing through the House, a new bill establishing a four-year term limit for the state’s Poet Laureates is set to reach the Florida governor’s desk in the near future. The Sunshine State has been without a Poet Laureate since Edmund Skellings died in 2012.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Kennedy; Galloway; Jones; Jonasson; Hilst; Bond; Spark
Out this week: All the Rage by A.L. Kennedy; The Confabulist by Stephen Galloway; Fallout by Sadie Jones; The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson; With My Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst; Ruby by Cynthia Bond; and The Informed Air by Muriel Spark. For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great 2014 Book Preview.
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