“I will tell them one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest story of all — the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness, of love and hate, of beauty and ugliness. I shall try to demonstrate to them how these doubles are inseparable — how neither can exist without the other and how out of their groupings creativeness is born.” John Steinbeck, American literary titan and author of The Grapes of Wrath, certainly knew a thing or two about creativity.
Down On Cannery Row
Tips on Surviving Cancer
Rebecca Pederson’s Tips On Surviving Your Cancer: Make it your Facebook status, shave your head, obtain at least one TV series box set and one reliable barf bucket, and more on Hairpin.
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The Birth of the Novel
Recommended Reading: On Herman Melville and his reputation for “being sexually dangerous, and even depraved.”
The Boss’s Papers
Bruce Springsteen’s archive is headed to Monmouth University, which is located in his hometown: Long Branch, New Jersey.
On the All-Nighter
If you’ve pulled an all-nighter, you understand the strange mental space that follows. Carmen Maria Machado brings us into that space at Catapult.
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An American Tragedy
“As everyday existence becomes more punitive for all but the monied few, more and more frustrated, volatile individuals will seek each other out online, aggravate whatever lethal fairy tale suits their pathology, and, ultimately, transfer their rage from the screen world to the real one.” Gary Indiana reviews Masha Gessen’s The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy for the London Review of Books.
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Going Places
“Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. Made me realize my whole life has been pretty much a waste. I suspected this anyway; he explained why: because I’d not surfed.” Geoff Dyer over at the New York Times on the best book he’s read recently. Our own Janet Potter interviewed Dyer on the release of his most recent book, White Sands.
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A Shortlister in Our Midst
Big congratulations to Millions staffer Emily St. John Mandel, whose novel The Singer’s Gun was shortlisted for the Indie Booksellers Choice Award!
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