Out this week: The Collected Poems of Robert Bly; Petty Theft by Nicholas Friedman; The Complete Poems of A.R. Ammons: Volume 1; and The Best American Magazine Writing 2018. For more on these and other new titles, go read our most recent book preview.
Tuesday New Release Day: Bly; Friedman; Ammons; ASME
Browne’s Guide to Science Writing
Want to write about science? Let Sir Thomas Browne, “17th-century know-it-all,” show you how.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Hensher, Smith, Morgenstern, Southgate
Booker-snubbed, but still widely anticipated, Philip Hensher’s King of Badgers is out today. As are Ali Smith’s There But for The, Erin Morgenstern’s uber-hyped debut The Night Circus, and The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate, who wrote here about writers’ work getting better as they get older.
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What’s The Rush?
Benjamin Percy makes the case for slowing down, “the best thing [he] ever did for my reading, which might be the best thing [he] ever did for [his] writing.”
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Begin Now
“You don’t have to immediately quit your job to become a writer. You need only to start writing.” The New York Times transcribes an excerpt from the “Dear Sugars” podcast with Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond. For more writerly advice, see our own columnists Swarm & Spark on whether writing a novel will jeopardize your mental health.
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You’re Obama
“And then Obama comes over to my desk with the speech, and he has a few edits. And he’s like, ‘I just want to go through some of these edits and make sure you’re ok with this. I did this for this reason. Are you ok with that?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, buddy. You’re Barack Obama.’” Jon Favreau, former chief speechwriter to President Obama, sits down with Longform.
You down with OPP 100?
The 100th episode of Brad Listi’s Other People Podcast is here, and it’s with George Saunders, and they talk about Ayn Rand, grad school, and a lot of other things too.
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Analyzing the Scumbag Brain
Jessica Love explores a little of the science behind every weary reader’s nemesis: zoning out.
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The Latest on Google Books
The Google Books settlement has yet to be settled. The next hearing is September 15th.