Recently, I’ve been watching SyFy’s soon-to-be completed show Warehouse 13, because I am a nerd and am in love with Claudia Donovan. I finished season three last night and am more than a bit disgruntled that Netflix doesn’t have season four available yet. If you’re not into SF (or at least not into SyFy, which … [Read more…]
As some lament the death of literature, and others argue that recent versions of it are terrible, a new study in the journal Science suggests that reading literature, in nothing else, makes us better people. A New York Times blog piece provided a summary of the study. It found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to … [Read more…]
Yesterday marked the first day of banned books week this year, and there is much to celebrate. According to the event’s webpage, the week is an annual celebration of intellectual freedom from censorship that was kicked off in 1982 in response to mounting censorship of literature in schools. Since its inception, “[m]ore than 11,300 books … [Read more…]
The Penguin Press has released a bizarre trailer for the new Thomas Pynchon book. His latest, The Bleeding Edge, is available September 17th. According to Penguin, in his new book, “Thomas Pynchon brings us to New York in the early days of the internet.” A write up at Penguin’s site tells us this about the … [Read more…]
I received this note from our Poetry Editor, Jim Gustafson today on the passing of Seamus Heaney. Jim wrote: “This morning I learned that Seamus Heaney died at 74 years old. He was just seven years older than I. He was an important poet to me and to the world, for that matter. I would … [Read more…]