Last week, I reported (as in, someone else did the work of porting it—I just re-ported it) on a study explaining why some movie lines are memorable (based on IMDb.com) while others aren’t, and then o...
Here are the most read stories from the last week in Critical Linking… “I think we put books on a pedestal compared to other forms of media … I thought long and hard about whether to do the stu...
Here are our most popular posts from the week that was… Adams’ artistic sensibility is both specific and elusive. He can go from distraught to delighted in the space of a modifier. He combines ...
Oh dear, how could I rank Austen’s most popular novel at #3? Actually, lots of scholars would put it even lower. Luckily, we have scholars around to correct us on stuff like this. ____________...
As a regular part of the freshman composition classes that I teach, my students are asked to read an essay by Richard Wright called “The Library Card,” an excerpt from his autobiography B...
What’s on your mind today? Let it out and head into the holiday weekend happy! You just finished reading Open Thread: May 25, 2012! Consider leaving a comment!You just finished reading Open Thr...
All right, you readers. This week, make me proud! Tell the world what’s on your nightstand, even if you’re still reading the same book as you were in April–last April. As you peruse...
The YA world is in an uproar over a recent study by BYU professor Sarah Coyne, featured in an article by U.S. News and World Report (among other places), that recommends that a ratings system for YA ...
Today is Towel Day, an annual commemoration of the life and work of Douglas Adams. In his best-known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Adams explained the supreme utility of the towel...
Boy does the internet like a list. And boy, does the bookish internet love a book list. Here’s a round-up of recent bookish lists that caught our attention. See previous installments here. __________...
Frictionless, nearly zero-cost distribution is one of the great qualities of digital publishing. We can update a book as much as we like. If the cover is no longer a visual marketing tool, why not le...
I don’t really know how these kinship trees work, but Annie Dillard is my third or fourth cousin twice or something removed on my father’s side. Suffice it to say we’re distantly re...
You can submit your guess using the form below after any clue, but if you’re wrong, you’re out for the week. So you’ve got to pick your spot. Too early and you might be wrong; wait until you’re sure,...
This has been a week of ALL THE CONTROVERSIES. We’ve got the YA ratings thing. The whitewashing thing. The “Orange Prize is losing its color/juice/insert less-than-clever-joke-hereR 21;...
On the short list of Things I Love As Much as I Love Books, food takes one of the top spots. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love to eat with the people I love and talk about what we’re eating...
Let’s do a run-down of this trailer. The general internet consensus is that this is insane. I think it’s insane AND I want my very own padded cell in this asylum. Let’s do this thin...
Is this the summer you’re finally going to read War and Peace? Or, might you be endeavoring to plow through John Grisham’s entire catalog, with a little Fifty Shades tossed in for flavor?...
My boyfriend and I don’t get into many fights that devolve to yelling — he’s too relentlessly logical, and I’m too passive aggressive. But this week we had a doozy of an argument, and it starte...
Then the interview covers the do-you-write-with-a-pencil-or- a-typewriter questions. An author interview typically concludes with a series of silly, late-night-talk-show, anecdote-inducing questions t...
Time to reveal the answer for last week’s Name That Author!. But first, recap of the clues: 1. You might be surprised to learn that my most famous work is considered a comedy. 2. Though I was e...
I scour dustjackets for these kinds of critic-ish gems, and find them everywhere, so they must be semi-precious stones. From book critics’ writing on In The Spirit of Happiness by the Monks of ...
You don’t need five reasons to read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein or The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. You only need one: they’re awesome. But, in case you are more discerning readers...
Love it? Hate it? Let’s hear it. You just finished reading What Do You Think of the GREAT GATSBY Trailer?! Consider leaving a comment!You just finished reading What Do You Think of the GREAT GA...
The end of this academic year marks my tenth year of teaching freshmen to write. From dedicated writing seminars to writing-intensive literature courses, I have spent much of my time in the classroom...
Hello Kitty raglan top: I’ve never been a fan of Hello Kitty, until I saw this top. Booksters: A celebration of written text in the physical form, these posters are printed with the original te...
You just finished reading Mid-Week Moment of Zen (Featuring Vampires)! Consider leaving a comment!You just finished reading Mid-Week Moment of Zen (Featuring Vampires)! Consider leaving a comment!
Nevertheless, if you believe, as many Americans have since the days of the Puritans, that books ought to morally improve their readers, then maybe there’s a place for a little judicious whitewashing ...
In The Useful Illusion of “Fiction for Men,” Jeff makes the case that Esquire’s new publishing venture, a sort of short story anthology curated by the magazine’s gatekeepers t...
Tuesday is New Book Day. We celebrate each week by highlighting titles we’re excited to see arrive in paperback. _________________________ Beard on Food by James Beard with Mark Whittman (Bloomsbury ...
Today is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday! He would have been 153 years old today. This leads me to ask: what is your favorite version of Sherlock Holmes? BBC? Downey Jr.? The original Doyle s...
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