Some people may not have realized the Oscar nominated Call Me By Your Name was originally a novel. André Aciman wrote an essay for Vanity Fair on the process of watching his novel adapted into film, in particular what it was like watching the scene he calls the most important come to life. Read the essay plus what author Martha Southgate had to say about the novel for her 2007 Year in Reading essay. And then go see the film!
The Most Important Scene in CMBYN
Cartoon Marginalia
Amid further discussion and exploration of marginalia, a discovery of cartoon marginalia in the New Yorker archives.
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You’re the West Egg to My West Egg
Here’s an idea you can add to the list of holiday gift ideas for the writers in your life. (Assuming the writers in your life are a pair of BFFs interested in gold-plated friendship necklaces inspired by The Great Gatsby.)
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Your Friendly Neighborhood Crytozoologist
Martin Connelly takes a look at The International Cryptozoology Museum, which is run by Loren Coleman up in Portland, Maine. If you can’t make the pilgrimage yourself (or if you’re just put off by chupacabra taxidermy), you can also get a feel for the study of far out beasts by reading Coleman’s “genre-defining” book, Cryptozoology A to Z.
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‘Tis the Season…
If your honey-bun doesn’t need another iPod or bottle of perfume this Christmas, consider Heifer International, a non-profit that lets you give the gift of heifers, sheep, goats, bees, rabbits, or water buffalo.
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Decolonizing the Card Catalog
A Howard University librarian named Dorothy Porter made it her mission to collect and preserve works related to the global black experience.
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Ireland’s Favorite Poem
Though traditionally a cultural staple, Irish poetry’s popularity has been on the decline for some time now. The best way to reignite public interest? A contest, of course, and Seamus Heaney just won. His sonnet “When all the others were away at Mass” was voted “Ireland’s best-loved poem written over the past 100 years.”
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