NY Times Book Review: In ‘News of the World,’ Unlikely Companions Bond on a Journey.
“... Kidd loves to cull and aggregate articles, loves the gasps of surprise he hears, loves the power of information. During the hours you spend reading “News of the World,” that power is magically restored.” Sounds worthy. On my list.
Guardian.UK: Study shows books can bring Republicans and Democrats together.
“ What we found was surprising: when both conservative and liberal readers talk about “bridge books” instead of their usual partisan books, they change their way of talking and thinking in significant ways. They use less negative or hateful language. They use more words related to cognitive insight, such as “admit” and “explain”. In short, what is special about these books is that they make readers who otherwise have strong political dispositions become less tribal.” Just in time for choosing Xmas presents for people ...
OpenCulture: Robert Heinlein Lists 5 Essential Rules for Making a Living as a Writer.
“2. You must finish what you start.” Oh, ouch.
FirstThings: On Reading Old Books.
“Censoring history helps nobody.” Agreed, wholeheartedly.
Open Culture: Mark Twain’s 60 American Comfort Foods He Missed While Abroad.
Underlines the paucity of our modern mass-produced diets. We think we have more variety, more choice. We don’t.
ArtDaily: Benjamin Franklin’s sword leads Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art sale.
Not an object one would associate with Franklin. Really interesting backstory. Esp. if you’ve read “The Count of Monte Cristo.”
Guardian.UK: The game is up - Shakespeare’s language not as original as dictionaries think.
“‘Tis Greek to me, my Lord ...” Seems one can never be absolutely sure of anything anymore. Gravity? Still here.
pshares/blog: Online “Nymphet” Culture and the Reclaiming of Lolita.
This should be compared to the Harley Quinn phenom (Suicide Squad).
Salon: Bewildered in “Bloom County”.
“But silliness suddenly seems safe now. Trump’s merely a sparkling symptom of a renewed national ridiculousness. We’re back baby.” Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts had me crying laughing in the aisle at Barnes & Noble in NYC, when I picked up the very first Bloom County book. Bought it on the spot, been a fan ever since.
Guardian.UK: Borrowed time - US library to enforce jail sentences for overdue books.
“Library customers can end up owing large sums to the library because they are able to take out up to 25 books at a time, which could have a retail value of $25 each.” Bad patrons, but this also sounds like bad management.
The Atlantic: Apeirophobia - The Fear of Eternity.
“When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the little space which I fill, and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I am frightened, and am astonished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather than there, why now rather than then.” Finally, an article worth my time to read.
ElectricLit: Have You Ever Gotten Stuck in a Book?
Guardian.UK: Thomas Hardy altarpiece discovered in Windsor church.
“The discovery shows it did exist, but that it had been covered over some time in the 1920s.” Totally rad.
BillMoyers.com: What Would Joseph Campbell Say About Donald Trump?
OpenCulture: What Ancient Latin Sounded Like, And How We Know It.
I’d like to see some mention about how it has been perpetuated as a living language in the Catholic church over this long time period, rather than ignoring that vector of input.
College Fix: Princeton HR department - Don’t use word ‘man’.
Should this be the new ‘default’ for all weblogs and social interactions? Asking. “I’d really like to know, man.”
Eidolon: Re-Queering Sappho.
Amazon.com: Libertarians on the Prairie.
New book, by one of my high school classmates. Go Chris! Ordered.
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: Catalog of Publications.
Free ebooks. Well, PDFs. Or purchase dead tree copies. Always nice to give back to scholarly institutions ...
Catapult: The Crematorium.
Great piece. So many familiar points.
The Millions: Heaney’s Aeneid - Book VI.
Quoting another, contemporary translation [sic]:
“Fuck! Why?
I swear
by the starsby the gods
and whatever honor
I have, I never
Meant to hurt you
The gods want what they want.”
No. Just no. Heaney yes, this ... no.
Guardian.UK/book review: Why capitalism has turned us into narcissists.
“Happiness is excellent for business. A cheerful worker is as much as 12% more productive.” Extra points if you remember Steve Martin suggesting Richard Nixon get a banjo for his press conferences. “Everything’s FINE!”
Duluth News-Tribune: Renowned Ojibwe author Jim Northrup remembered.
“In Vietnam, Bob Hope came to help us celebrate Christmas. I couldn’t figure out the link between peace on earth and a rice paddy fire fight. Today there is no tree inside my house. We just leave them outside where they continue to grow.” RIP. Your voice and thought will be missed. Of note: Ojibwe funeral traditions.
The New Yorker: How Rousseau Predicted Trump.
“He simply assumed that his own experience of social disadvantage and poverty — though he was rarely truly poor and had a knack for finding wealthy patrons—sufficed to make his arguments superior to those of people who lived more privileged lives.” Presaged might be a better term.
NY Times/Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Explores the Power of Time.
As long as we don’t have to revisit the Forest of Dean.
