Recent Articles
February 18, 2013
Hatchet Man 0
by Thomas Beckwith
“Book reviews are another matter, because a bad review has the potential to be far more adversarial: one writer spending years on a book, one reviewer spending days reading it, and a lasting relationship being created between the two in print. Or, perhaps, a history between the two that lends the review a particular piquancy.” [...]
February 18, 2013
Remembering Ronan 0
by Thomas Beckwith
Last Friday, the writer Emily Rapp’s three-year-old son Ronan passed away from Tay-Sachs disease. Because Emily is part of the greater Rumpus family, the site is honoring Ronan’s memory by publishing a tribute by her friend Jennifer Pastiloff. They’re also encouraging people to help fight Tay-Sachs disease here.
February 18, 2013
The Chance of a Lifetime 0
by Thomas Beckwith
It’s famously easy to get scammed on OkCupid. Sarah Hepola (of Salon) knew as much when she joined. But when someone who claimed to be Joseph Gordon-Levitt sent her a flirty message, she figured… what could she do?
February 18, 2013
Abandon All Hope 0
by Thomas Beckwith
Man, if Ian McEwan has crises of faith in fiction, how should the rest of us feel? Good question.
February 18, 2013
A Titillating Read 0
by Thomas Beckwith
The new book by Alain de Botton, How to Think More About Sex, addresses exactly what you’d think it would based on a glance at its title. According to de Botton, the word “sexy,” at base, refers to people or things which mimic our deeply-held values. At Brain Pickings, you can read more excerpts.
February 17, 2013
Pablo Neruda’s Body to be Exhumed 0
by Nick Moran
In 2011 I wrote about a group of Chilean Communists who wished to exhume Pablo Neruda’s body. They alleged that Neruda was murdered. Now, two years later, a judge has ordered the corpse to be exhumed and autopsied in order to set the record straight.