Recent Articles

July 29, 2010

In Praise of Precocious Narrators 7

by Anne Shulock

In an age of shortening attention spans and the glorification of stupidity, I find it comforting and exciting to spend time with young characters for whom books, maps, notebooks, letters, research, drawings, imagined inventions and classic films are central and essential.

July 29, 2010

I’d Rather Be a Lightning Rod: On Ken Kesey, Life, and the Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest 2

by Anne K. Yoder

I have been living in a room in a house perched on a cliff that overlooks the Oregon coast for almost a month. A window with an ocean view spans the width of my desk, but when I sit down to write, I often find myself doing anything but that.

July 28, 2010

Cheaper New Kindle Has Arrived with a Wi-Fi Option 1

by C. Max Magee

Amazon has refreshed its line of Kindles once again. The price point on a basic version that utilizes Wi-Fi has dropped way down to $139. Opt for the 3G version and the price is $189. The device now boasts better contrast, less glare in sunlight, and it now comes in a new [...]

July 28, 2010

Profile of Rick Moody 0

by Ujala Sehgal

At the Hartford Advocate, Craig Fehrman talks to Rick Moody about his “perplexing” career and latest novel, The Four Fingers of Death: “Moody isn’t the worst writer of his generation, but he is one of the most successful …”

July 28, 2010

In Search of Iago 5

by Ujala Sehgal

If we dig deep into literary villainy do we find caricature or do we find ourselves?

July 28, 2010

The Beauty That Lies in Wasted Time: On Cao Xueqin’s Dream of the Red Chamber 5

by Dylan Suher

Dream of the Red Chamber’s doomed lovers, Jia Bao-yu and Lin Dai-yu, are as iconic in China as Romeo and Juliet are in the West. It’s also notable for its staggering length. At about twenty-eight hundred pages, the book is about twice as long as my copy of War and Peace.