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Reading Week #116

09.30.2016 by Nicola Balkind //

cocktail-hour

Happy Friday! How are you?

This week has called for a cocktail – in a good way. I moved into my own new flat! I have a bed and a couch and a bookcase and everything! I’m very pleased and incredibly tired from all the shopping and shipping and assembling and cleaning and unpacking. But, like I said, very happy.

I’m sinking into my comfy new sofa as we speak, so let’s get on with the links, shall we?

 

 

–– PEN TO PAPER ––

Have you been following the Dangerous Women project? If not, you should. You can start by reading my friend Jean’s piece on The Myth of Procne & Philomela.

I really enjoyed Molly Fischer on why ‘Narcissist’ Is the Worst Insult.

“The cat was carried in a basket halfway across the bridge, then walked to the Manhattan side behind its master, who delivered him to members of an outpost of the Tammany Hall political club. There, the cat was called Ned of the Bridge.” Andy Newman’s Cat Exploits, Long Before YouTube is charming as hell, and a tad bewildering.

The Encyclopedia Reader is one of those lovely unlikey tales about penpals-turned-lifelong friends.

If you’re looking for new book recommendations, The Strand is spot on in their list of All the Books You’ll Maybe Probably Definitely Want to Read This Fall.

 

 

–– X MARKS THE SPOT ––

If you’re going to read one piece about this year’s US General Election, make it Roger Angell’s. He considers his nineteenth presidental ballot in My Vote.

Mary Karr writes about haranguing The Crotchgrabber she encountered in NYC. Sexual harassment is awful but she is a badass.

Apparently The Blogosphere Pays Off More Than Ever, now. But I’m skeptical about the exponential rise in blogger/influencer leverage that this article assumes.

On the subject of beauty bloggers, Alice Bolin really breaks down their appeal for the anxious and concerns around their success in The Scrying Game.

For you freelancers out there: Brennan Dunn wants you to know Why Your Clients Want To Pay You More – and his email link to this blog post came to me at just the right moment.

I’ve wanted to visit Wigtown – Scotland’s National Book Town – for years now, but never really had the means or the will to get myself there. After reading this tour of the local bookshops from Mental Floss, I’m going to make sure we hit it up on the next home visit.

 

 

–– ON THE SHELF ––

travel-without-seeing

I read How to Write While Traveling by Andrés Neuman on The Lit Hub, thinking it was an article. It wasn’t. It was an excerpt of his book, How to Travel Without Seeing, and I bought it immediately. It combines 2 things I’m loving right now – travel memoir and books translated from Spanish – so I can’t wait to get started as soon as I have the time.

I also finally finished The Long-Winded Lady by Maeve Brennan, which I had to stop mid-way and recently found at the local library. Which finally gave me a reason to catch up on this one that’s been lurking in my reading list: Anne Enright’s In search of the real Maeve Brennan.

Wanna see a really rubbish photo of my new bookcase? Oh, go on then.

book case

Videos coming soon, I promise.

What are you currently reading?
 

 

––

 
Your turn! Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me, won’t you?

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x
 

Categories // Reading Week Tags // Books, cats, link list, reading, reading week, roger angell, the internet

Reading Week #9 – Reviewing Cups, Hazelnuts & Historical Cats

05.30.2014 by Nicola Balkind //

Oldest Living Things In the World from Deepspeed media on Vimeo.

 

Happy Friday!

This week I’ve been mostly cat-sitting, working up to my upcoming sabbatical, and getting ready for Small is Beautiful.

I also got around to reading through most of my Pocket list – so hold in, it’s a big one!

 

 –– On ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Sorry, move along, nothing to see here…

But elsewhere I did cover Investing in Your Microbusiness and I blogged some picks for Edinburgh International Film Festival!

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Reasons to Be Optimistic During the Disruption of Publishing: thoughts and excellent recommendations from Jane Friedman.

A lovely piece on friendship and self-discovery: While Writing for ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ I Realized I Am Gay.

This lady is a badass. Nellie Bly’s Lessons in Writing What You Want To.

The Los Angeles Review of Cups. Witty reviews of Jonathan Safran Foer’s “genius” stories-on-Chipotle-cups project.

The art of letter-writing is alive and well on This Recording: In Which We Travel Too Far Back.

 

–– DIGITAL ––

 LiveJournal is awaiting a revamp. Yes, that LiveJournal. I’m torn somewhere between “Yuss!” and “How very dare you?!”

3-second distractions are enough to throw you off-course… and more depressing work-related gems in The Science of Us, via NY Mag.

We’re all aggregators now, says Ann Friedman – along with some tips on how to be ethical about it.

 

–– LONGFORM / JOURNALISM ––

How YouTube and Internet Journalism Destroyed Tom Cruise, Our Last Real Movie Star – excellent stuff on film, celebrity, and how the internet changed it all, by Amy Nicholson.

A postcard from San Francisco. A sad one, at that.

 

–– &c. ––

Nutella: How the world went nuts for a hazelnut spread: one of humanity’s greatest inventions.

The company is the number one user of hazelnuts in the world, buying up 25% of the entire world production.

 

An earnest appreciation of @historicalcats, by Caitlin Dewey.

Currently reading: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (still!)

 

What’s making you happy this week?

 

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Categories // Reading Week Tags // cats, link list, nutella

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