At The New York Times, Dan Saltzstein reflects on the legacy of Korean-American experimental artist and poet Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, and how her artistic reputation has flourished after her early death. “It can also sometimes feel like Cha is grappling with her own mortality in Dictee,” Saltzstein writes, “in a hauntingly prescient line that might be autobiographical, she writes of struggling with how to move forward against ‘the onslaught of time,’ adding, ‘She says to herself if she were able to write she could continue to live.'”
The Legacy of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Amazon’s Top 100
Amazon has finished unveiling its top-100 books for 2010. At the top of the big list: Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Of Rainfall and Fluffy Bathrobes
You’ve probably heard the internet adage, “If it exists, there is a porn of it.” Never has that been truer than in the case of the political erotica of 2016. From a particularly colorful Cruz/Rubio series: “’Who is this Hillary you’ve been texting?’ Rubio asks Cruz. ‘Saying things like ‘meet me when Marco’s not home,’ ‘I can hook you up,’ ‘what’s the price’ … don’t act all naïve right now!'”
●
●
Crowd-source Everything
In addition to the fact Amazon reviewers and experts agree “in aggregate about the quality of a book,” non-professional reviews on Amazon tend to be “more eclectic,” “more supportive of debut authors,” and less biased in favor of authors with whom they associate than media experts.
●
●
The Summer Rooster Strikes Back
The second annual Rooster Summer Reading Challenge starts next week with two selections for June: Julián Herbert‘s Tomb Song and Tayari Jones‘s An American Marriage. Get yourself ready with an essay about black love stories featuring Jones’ novel.
“Degreelash”
What did we read in the Obama era? Christian Lorentzen has some answers. Apart from individual books like The Flamethrowers and The Art of Fielding, he comes up with some genres that have dominated the past eight years, including autofiction, works of trauma and fables of meritocracy. (You can probably guess where Leaving the Atocha Station ends up.)
Franz Kafka: The Video Game
I hope the Franz Kafka video game isn’t anything like the Franz Kafka airport.
●
●
Personalized Postcards from Your Favorite Authors
Help support a nonprofit literary magazine and you might win a handwritten letter for yourself or a loved one.
●
●
●