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Reading Week #74

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london-horizon

Long weekend yeahhhh! I’m off to London today. Plans include visiting my podcast buddy Holly, book shopping in aid of Books Are My Bag, seeing Book of Mormon, stuffing my face, and drinking lots of cocktails.

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything exciting? Here are some links to keep you occupied.

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

You may or may not have noticed that quietly attempting to post at least once per weekday throughout October – so there’s plenty to read around here.

How about some capsule reviews of the books I read last month, aka September Reads?

Looking ahead, I caught the seasonal reading bug and posted my Autumn TBR [VIDEO, 6 mins].

Book Week Scotland 2015 launched this week, and they have an amazing line-up of bookish events taking place across the country from 23–29 November.

ICYMI, Bookish Blether #19 is about the opposite of a reading slump, a Book Spree!

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

On LitHub, Sloane Crosley talked about her “novel dysmorphia”. Basically she wrote a 700-page novel, which has now been released as a 372-page novel. I like to think about the processes authors go through between drafts – the additions and subtractions, and how the end product we read has never come out fully-formed. Weird, right?

My favourite film podcast did an episode on my favourite filmmaker! You Must Remember This: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake [AUDIO, 43 mins]

I am totally in love with illustrator Megan Nicole Dong’s cartoons of men being deceived by make-up. This one’s husband-endorsed: he laughed so hard he had a coughing fit.

“My past is littered,” she said, “with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on.” Whoa.

 

 

–– THE FUTURE ––

Here’s a great discursive piece from Ann Friedman – Me Inc.: The paradoxical, pressure-filled quest to build a “personal brand.”

Who knew The Politics of Pantyhose could say so much about society?
 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

This past week I’ve read Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg – which was a good, slightly underwhelming small town drama.

I also finished Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff – a seemingly pretentious but ohmyfuckinggod actually outstanding and totally rich story of a marriage with a total deconstruction of the manic pixie dream wife. There is way too much to say about that book.

My full reviews will be in the next Big Issue so look out for that.

Next on my list is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, my current buddy read which is remarkable so far but quite chunky so I might take my Kindle away this weekend and start this month’s book club pick: Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space by Nora Chassler.

What’s on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

True or not, this Craigslist missed connection is sweet and beautifully written and heartbreaking.

 

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Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me about it, won’t you?

​Have a lovely weekend!

 

Reading Week #73

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NYC-Princeton-Toronto

How’s tricks, folks?

Around this time last year I took a trip to Princeton, Manhattan and Toronto – and I’ve been reminiscing. Not least because I’m heading back this time next month!

Meantime, back to school mode is finally kicking in. So how about something ridiculous to kick off your weekend? All aboard the Dog Train!

I have some slightly less silly stuff for you, too…

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

New Bookish Blether alert! This week we talked about the opposite of a reading slump, and dubbed it a Book Spree!

This week I did a wee collab video with 2 of my BookTube Besties – The Bookish Friends Tag with Jean and Vanessa.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

We all have this sense that growing older and not giving a fuck will be amazing, yet we rarely see representations of older women on screen. That’s why Ann Friedman Wishes the Intern on The Intern Had Been a Woman.

Michael G. Donkin lifts a brow at ‘The Disinterested Novelist’ Tom McCarthy. His comments on and quotes from the author’s novel Satin Island and essay “The Death of Writing” will save you the hassle of reading both of them.

Over on TYCI, Laura Waddell’s started a great new books column called Spine.

I don’t usually go in for this “look at these writers and how amazing their workspaces are” chat but this one proved that Valeria Luiselli is even cooler than I thought.
 

 

–– DIGITAL ––

Are Newsletters the Internet’s New Safe Space for Women? You tell me ?

Harvard introduced a course on How to Live Wisely and it sounds… pretty great, actually.

Caitlin Dewey takes a vital look at the Sexual harassment issues plaguing YouTube and Vine.

On NPR, the Ted Radio Hour podcast explored some possible futures for our digital lives. They haven’t quite realised it’s a PODCAST and they don’t have to REMIND YOU what you’re listening to every FIVE MINUTES but apart from that and the bit with Jon Ronson it was an interesting listen. Here are Part I and Part II.

Last week I partook of a little hashtag game called #RuinaNovelWithSocialMedia. One of my tweets was featured in Time Out and Paste Magazine. So… good for them? My other one was way better by the way – it was The Man Who Was ThrowbackThursday.

 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

I got a wee reviewing assignment this week so I’ve been reading two new releases: Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg and Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. Reviews to follow.

I also finished a fantastic debut short story collection called Barbara The Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes (sorry, newsletter friends with work firewalls). More on that in the podcast, Bookish Blether #19.

What’s on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

As you’ll know by now, I have a low tolerance for folk who wax lyrical about Autumn. But I’m all for a cultivating a little “hygge”. (Just don’t be super lame about it, okay?)

Ta-Nehisi Coates was awarded a well-deserved MacArthur Fellowship this week – and his profile video is well worth a watch.

 

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Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me about it, won’t you?

​Have a lovely weekend!

 

Reading Week #72

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gin

Happy Friday!!! Tonight I’m going to a gin tasting and out for dinner. What do you have to look forward to?

Some links, perhaps?

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

I did another big catch-up with my Quarterly Wrap-Up: capsule reviews of the books I read in April–June. [VIDEO, 11 mins]

ICYMI, last week’s Bookish Blether podcast is about Our Favourite Books. [AUDIO, 34 mins]

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Warning: It’s super book-heavy this week, you guys.

A quickie with my fav. Junot Diaz on reading, writing, and America’s amnesia about race.

I enjoyed learning more about How the Tiny Graywolf Press Became a Big Player in Book Publishing. I also want every book they’ve published in the past 2 years.

Valeria Luiselli: the Novelist All Your Smart Friends Are Talking About. Damn right I am. I loved her essay collection, Sidewalks, and have both her novels in the post.

A Literary Koch Launches New Publishing House. How prim and perfect. Her plans sound great, though.

And finally, a lovely little piece from Ann Patchett on the inherent powers of owning a bookstore.

 

 

–– THE FUTURE ––

Writers talk to the Awl about getting paid in the digital era: If You Don’t Click on This Story, I Don’t Get Paid.

New York Times takes on A Toxic Work World – ours.

THE problem is with the workplace, or more precisely, with a workplace designed for the “Mad Men” era, for “Leave It to Beaver” families in which one partner does all the work of earning an income and the other partner does all the work of turning that income into care — the care that is indispensable for our children, our sick and disabled, our elderly. Our families and our responsibilities don’t look like that anymore, but our workplaces do not fit the realities of our lives.

Fariha Roisin is a must-read as always. This time it’s on Growing Up Muslim in a Post-9/11 World.

The plight of the bitter nerd: Why so many awkward, shy guys end up hating feminism. Arthur Chu can be a bit much, but his points here about internal vs external threat are solid. TL;DR: “Guys deal with Women in the abstract, as a category; women deal with specific men who physically threaten them.”

 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

As mentioned above, I finished Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli and loved it. I’d already ordered her new novel, but went ahead and ordered her debut so as I could read that first.

Currently on the go: The Guilty short stories by Juan Villoro (good, almost finished), 10:04 by Ben Lerner (cloudy with a chance of DNF), and a revisit to some of Nick Hornby’s Ten Years in the Tub book columns.

What’s on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

A lovely one for writers: the first draft is always perfect. (Spoiler: it’s because it exists.)

Toward A Theory Of Fall Fuckability on The Hairpin. Don’t worry, it’s not a love letter to fall. I just thought it was funny.

 

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Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me about it, won’t you?

​Have a lovely weekend!