Reading Flavorwire’s “50 Incredibly Tough Books for Extreme Readers” challenged my literary fortitude. I found myself wanting to buy a bunch of new books, then take kickboxing lessons, hit the gym, or maybe dive of a cliff. I applaud the effort to compile a list of fifty tough books. Even putting this list together required its own toughness … [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…]
Here’s a great reading list given to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s nurse and written down in her handwriting. Here’s more on the list from Open Culture: In 1936 — perhaps the darkest year of his life — F. Scott Fitzgerald was convalescing in a hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, when he offered his nurse a list … [Read more…]
Out of Print is a documentary about the state of the publishing industry, the impact of Google and Amazon on publishing, and the future of books as we know them. The documentary, which is narrated by Meryl Streep, is described on the official site as a movie that: draws us into the topsy-turvy world of words, illuminating … [Read more…]
“I, who wished to read the book of the world and the book of my own nature, did presume to despise the letters and signs. I called the world of appearances, illusion. I called my eyes and tongue, chance. Now it is over; I have awakened. I have indeed awakened and have only been born … [Read more…]