Hooray, poetry! This piece from The New York Times highlights three new collections you should consider checking out: Shaler’s Fish by Helen Macdonald, Poems by Ron Rash, and Blue Laws by Kevin Young.
Read, Read, Read
Goodbye, Friday Night Lights
It's been one week since the "Friday Night Lights" finale aired on network television, and it seems as though the entire internet is grieving. Two Grantland pieces: an oral history and a tongue-in-cheek analysis; an opinion piece juxtaposing Peter Berg's low-rated drama against "Glee"'s success; and now even The Paris Review has thrown its hat into the ring. All of this, of course, comes on the heels of our own Sonya Chung's piece last April.
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How Meta a Work is Man
A Shakespearean consulted for Arthur Phillips' buzzed-about new novel, The Tragedy of Arthur, reviews...The Tragedy of Arthur. In which he appears. Alongside "Arthur Phillips."
Wild Wells
Recommended Reading: Wells Tower's short story "Wild America" at The Oxford American.
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Where Has the Venom Gone? Pls RT.
Jacob Silverman tackles the niceness epidemic besieging literary criticism at the moment. Where have the hatchet jobs gone? Is social media’s “communalism” robbing critics of their fangs? Each time a publication refuses to print a negative review, the act amounts to “a victory for a publicist, but not for readers,” he writes. (Just a few notes: Silverman's piece is based on a blog post he wrote recently; Emma Straub has responded on her own blog; and, for what it's worth, our own Michael Bourne’s recent review of Richard Ford’s Canada was pretty toothy.)
Books vs. “Books”
Recommended reading: Alex Beam on the distinction between books and "books."
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Sweet peas rejoice!
Dear Sugar is back in action after a few months break from her advice column. And thank heavens, because reading this #LitBeat about an event in her honor over and over just wasn't cutting it anymore.