Whether they’re expected or not, houseguests often add intrigue and excitement to a novel. For The Guardian, author Jessica Francis Kane (who recently spoke to The Millions about her fourth book, Rules for Visiting) lists some of her favorite houseguests in literature, including King Lear, Jane Bennet, and more. “Allegedly there are only two kinds of story: someone goes on a journey, or someone comes to town. Either way the person has to stay somewhere, so the houseguest story is everywhere once you start looking for it.”
Literature’s Favorite Houseguests
Joan
Sara Davidson’s Joan: Forty Years of Life, Loss, and Friendship with Joan Didion is an intimate portrait of one of America’s most revered and private writers.
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English in India
Recommended reading: on the power of language and class, or, “How English Ruined Indian Literature.”
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Reading’s Benefits
This week in book-related infographics: Electric Literature takes a look at all the benefits of reading, from stress reduction to generally becoming a better person.
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I’m With the Ogres
There’s a tiff going on between Ursula le Guin and Kazuo Ishiguro. After le Guin accused Ishiguro of “despising” the fantasy genre, following an interview with the Times in which he wondered aloud if his readers would be prejudiced against his latest book, Ishiguro defended himself, claiming that he is “firmly on the side of the ogres and the pixies.” You can read a full rundown in The Guardian.
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Sarah M. Broom on Unfinished Work
"The unfinished work is no less real, or necessary, or powerful than the book," Broom says in a recent Whiting Foundation speech.
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Breaking the English Ceiling
This year’s Forward Prize went to the poet Jorie Graham, whose collection The Dream of the Unified Field won the Pulitzer in ’94. Graham is the first American woman to win the prize.