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Reading Week #4 – 19/04/14

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It’s a day late this week, but here it is – Reading Week #4!

The holiday weekend has finally come around, and boy did I need one. Here’s what I’ve been reading over the past week.

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– ON ROBOTNIC.CO –

I finally finished my March book reviews!

– ARTS & CULTURE–

 Sadie Stein’s column on the Paris Review is the best. Here she is On Knowing Things and discussing Curious Punishments.

On Internet Slang, IMHO by Teddy Wayne in the New York Times. Not a great title, but a nice look at our truncated online speech & OMG soooo much hyperbole I can even.

Brain Pickings picks out Dorothy Parker in a rare reading, An ode to the unflinching comfort of the bed.

Two more great film posts this week: Tom Shone’s Guardian follow-up to Matt Zoller-Seitz’s piece on whether film critics should care about film technique. They should, and they ought to call Hollywood out on its bullshit, too.

This utterly fascinating piece on the female body in 3D. File under: unattainable standards of beauty and where to find them.

— DIGITAL —

The future of Facebook is apps – mostly non-Facebook ones. Fine with me!

And Five Little-Known YouTube Features – pitched at marketers, but will be useful for some of my BookTube pals

— LONGFORM / JOURNALISM —

Molly Young, from early 2013: How Did Susan Miller Become the Go-To Astrologer for the New York Fashion Set?

— &c. —

It’s still BEDA over on Tumblr.

Yesterday I finished reading Flowers for Algernon – and am rather undecided.

Currently reading: MFA vs NYC, The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls (short stories) by Marcel Aymé

Happy Easter, folks! Enjoy your weekend.

Reading Week #3 – 11/04/2014

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Aye Write
Aye Write

Welcome to Reading Week #3!

Don’t forget you can sign up here to get Reading Week via email.

 

– ON ROBOTNIC.CO –

… I have been a lazy shite. But I’m BEDA-ing over on Tumblr.

 

– ARTS & CULTURE–

Syreeta McFadden on teaching the camera to see her skin. Buzzfeed Ideas, led by Ayeesha Siddiqi is getting off to a great start.

New documentary, American Blogger, is blowing up – but not for the reasons the filmmaker probably expected. This perfectly demonstrates how showing what you saw isn’t journalism – tackling what you didn’t see is the missing piece of this guys’ puzzle.

A bunch of female filmmakers are joining forces for a new initiative for, well, women filmmakers.

Vlogbrother Hank covered Mass Incarceration in the US — sitting this with arts and culture as the animation is pretty great.

In the US, it seems like social media might be “saving” the independent bookshop… if you believe the “little guy” is going to die out completely because Amazon has a 30% market share. (Definitely tune into Book Riot’s next podcast to see what they have to say about this.)

 

– DIGITAL –

Where are the real outsiders in new media? Or, why being a white dork who made it mainstream doesn’t make you diverse.

YouTube wants its creators to build ‘fanbases’ rather than audiences. Which does not mean what I think it means. As Steven put it, sooo 2008.

OnTumblr’s Emergent Optimisation. For me this was more interesting from a cultural than a design or development perspective.

Drooling over the New Yorker’s digital strategy.

 

– LONGFORM / JOURNALISM –

Ann Friedman on Moving for Love. 2 years on, I barely give a thought to Evan’s and my long distance days.

[ETA: Page no longer exists.]

Ann Friedman again, on journalism: Starting Niche.

Yep, it’s the Longform Podcast again. Check out Amanda Hess on this week’s episode. She’s the one who wrote that (first) article on James Deen. Random House non-fiction editor Andy Ward was a good listen, too.

The Hidden Brain: How Ocean Currents Explain Our Unconscious Social Biases via Brain Pickings. I’d like to read this book now.

 

– &c. –

Currently reading: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (even though he was the most insufferable Longform guest I’ve heard yet)

Currently holding off watching: Game of Thrones Season 4, because meh.

Number of Burritos eaten this week: 1. Must try harder.

What were your best reads of the week? Drop them below or tweet me.

March Reads | 52 Books 2014

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10. S. by Doug Dorst & JJ Abrams
★★★★★ – For all the things this novel is trying to do, the vital point is that it is not redefining the novel. While that’s not necessarily a strike against it, it does put the whole thing in perspective. The main novel story is ok, but I wouldn’t have read it alone. The intrigue and mystery, for me, was way overblown. The characters scribbling in the margins were compelling enough, but probably wouldn’t have held up on their own either. Listen in to my full review with Sasha and Iain here.

 

sum

11. Sum: Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
★★★★★ – This is basically a book of very short stories, all speculative fiction pieces about the afterlife. There were a few nice stories in here which, for the most part, were very well written – but only a very few really resonated with me. Its heavy Judeo-Christian leaning made it feel a bit uninventive. Your mileage may vary.

 

Frank Sinatra Has a Cold by Gay Talese
12. Frank Sinatra Has a Cold & Other Essays by Gay Talese
★★★★★ – Can’t deny, this guy was one of the best of his time. I especially enjoyed Mr. Bad News – one of his personal favourites – about the New York Times’ obituary writer of the day. (I also enjoyed Longform’s interview with Margalait Fox, their current one, about a week prior.) If you like longform journalism, give this ago. (Here’s another blog post I wrote about it, too.)

 

hangsaman
13. Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
★★★★★ –  I selected this for book club, and was less engaged in the reading than in the chat about it afterwards. There’s so much going on beneath the surface here that I already have my sights set on my next Jackson read.

 

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14. My Misspent Youth by Meghan Daum
★★★★★ – Megan Daum came of age a full generation before me, around the time when I was in high school, but there was so much in here to which I could relate. I loved the overarching theme of admiring things – never looking beyond its surface, and for the most part the stories actually formed behind that unifying idea. (Unlike most essay collections which claim to do so, start to, then don’t.) She gets it. I read this in only a few sittings, and will likely read it again.

 

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15. Sleep Donation by Karen Russell
★★★★★– One of the best novellas I’ve read. Need I say more?

 

What was the best book you read in early 2014?