As a part of their Read, Watch, Binge! summer series, NPR recommends TV series, movies, books, and more based on 60 of their readers favorite books. If you’re looking for more books, check out our Great Second-Half Fiction Preview.
Read, Watch, Binge
Chris Adrian’s Take on Shakespeare
Chris Adrian‘s pedigree is impressive: former Harvard Divinity student; Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate; current fellow in UCSF’s pediatric hematology/oncology department; lifelong fan of Shakespeare. He’s also found time to appear in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and McSweeney’s. Great Night, his latest novel, imaginatively reboots A Midsummer Night’s Dream by setting it in San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park. Here’s some footage of him reading an excerpt at last month’s FSG Reading Series.
“Immaculate glass world of the spirit”
Recommended Reading: Anka Muhlstein on Stefan Zweig (whose work, you may have heard, inspired Wes Anderson’s latest film).
The Most Accurate Science Fiction
While the best science fiction is a matter of taste, six scientists weigh in on the most accurate science fiction in their diverse fields, for io9.
Hitch Hearts Hilary
Hitchens elevates Hilary Mantel to “the very first rank of historical novelists” in a long consideration of Wolf Hall.
Memoir and Literature
“I’ve always loved memoir, but it’s still seen as such a trashy genre and I wanted to speak to it as actual literature because that’s how it feels to me.” Mary Karr sits down with The Rumpus to discuss The Art of Memoir. We recently posted an excerpt from and a review of the book.