Here’s a step-by-step guide for getting rid of books, also known as “the life-changing magic of thinning the herd.” Also check out this Millions piece on the weight of moving books.
Thinning the Herd
Shakespeare in Asia
"It’s fair to say Shakespeare is having a cultural moment in Asia, with a “boom” of new film adaptations and dramatic stagings," and the Royal Shakespeare Company just received 1.5 million pounds to keep that boom going by translating all of the Bard's plays into Mandarin. Melville House has the full story, and it pairs well with both this diagram of a translated book's usual lifespan and this discussion of Shakespeare's best plays.
●
●
In Defense of Bad Sex
We recently posted about the finalists of Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Awards. (Morrissey’s List of the Lost was the winner!) Allan Drew writes at The Atlantic in defense of #BadSex.
Moments of Being
In an essay for TriQuarterly Lia Purpura writes about Virginia Woolf's "moments of being" and their importance for contemporary writing. "Woolf’s particular flavor of modernism is rooted in the drive to gather, hold, and deepen moments, to make the shimmering moment of perception the base upon which “reality” rests. Her sensibility honors the fleeting, fragile instances of a person’s life."
“Because with Helen DeWitt, everything is physical.”
Lightning Rods author (and occasional Millions commenter) Helen DeWitt has a story entitled "Recovery" featured in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading series. Don’t miss the “single sentence animation” video for it, either.
●
●
#ReadMoreWomen
We encourage you to join Electric Literature's #ReadMoreWomen campaign. Their aim is to "challenge you to increase your consumption of women and nonbinary authors, and tweet at @ElectricLit with the hashtag #readmorewomen to tell us what you’re reading or recommend a book." Sounds good to us!