The New York Public Library has named five finalists for its inaugural Harriet Tubman prize, which recognizes non-fiction books that explore the topic of slavery. You may also want to revisit our own Edan Lepucki‘s essay from a few years back on slavery in fiction.
A Worthy Prize
“Between research and reflection”
The LA Times has a review up of Eula Biss's On Immunity: An Innoculation, an "elegant, intelligent and very beautiful book, which occupies a space between research and reflection." We covered the collection in our Second-Half 2014 Book Preview, and Biss's first book, Notes from No Man's Land, has appeared in several Millions pieces over the last few years.
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Remembering What We Forgot
Recommended Reading: Poet and novelist Carmen Boullosa on her obsession with lost stories and found textual objects, as well as the efficacy of rereading.
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a multitude of drops
There is a very long trailer for the Cloud Atlas movie, which comes out in the fall. Unfortunately, Kevin Bacon isn't in it.
On Velvet
Recommended Listening: Mary Gaitskill talks about her new book The Mare with host David Naimon. Pair with Chelsea Voulgares’s Millions interview with the author.
They call it an accident, a catastrophe. But it was a war.
n+1 publishes a chilling personal account of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as the crisis mounts at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The Secret Life of Books
"They might underline a page number, draw a little star on the last page, or write their first initial somewhere in the book." A librarian in Scotland discovered a secret code used by elderly patrons to track which books they already read. From our archives: an essay on the importance of libraries and how they can stay relevant.
You Are What You Buy
This piece by Carrie Murphy is delightful and playful and a couple other "adjective"+fuls all in one.