literature – Read Later

Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online

11 February 2020 0

ift.tt/31JNRoq The story of Mexican food is usually told as…

A Cast-Iron Aeroplane That Can Actually Fly: a Continuation of an Interview with Peter Johnson

7 February 2020 0

ift.tt/39fJaoK How did this anthology come about? I’m very proud of A Cast-iron Aeroplane That Can Actually Fly: Commentaries from 80 Contemporary American Poets on Their Prose Poetry. There are many excellent anthologies out there, but I…

How to Live and How to Die

4 February 2020 0

ift.tt/2aQtux0 “Leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.” A year ago, I lost my darling friend Emily Levine (October 23, 1944–February 3, 2019). Figuring, in which she rightly occupies the first line of the acknowledgements,…

Who You Really Are

24 November 2017 0

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you…

When Things Fall Apart: Tibetan Buddhist Nun and Teacher Pema Chödrön on Transformation Through Difficult Times

14 August 2017 0

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and…

An Illustrated Fictional Day in the Real Lives of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein

14 August 2017 0

Parisian misadventures in multitasking drawn from one of history’s great…

Protected: De Profundis: Patti Smith Reads Oscar Wilde’s Stirring Letter on Suffering and Transcendence, Penned in Prison

15 November 2016 0

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Keats on the Three Layers of Reality and What Gives Meaning to Human Existence

31 October 2016 0

ift.tt/2eMzJEy “Every mental pursuit takes its reality and worth from…

The second sage

31 October 2016 0

ift.tt/2eLAqxX A man is hiking in the countryside when he…

5 Things You Didn’t Know about H. G. Wells

15 September 2016 0

ift.tt/2d2c42G H. G. Wells is one of the most influential…

Literature in Castro’s Cuba

11 July 2016 0

ift.tt/2a32fNM Lockwood on the baseball field with Castro, 1964. © 2016 Lee Lockwood/TASCHEN. Late in 1959, the photojournalist Lee Lockwood flew to Cuba to witness the end of Batista’s regime. After a long search, he found Fidel Castro, who had only…

Why is the Iranian government opening the world’s biggest bookstore?

9 July 2016 0

ift.tt/29WGrDh At the Tehran Book Fair. Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency/Getty There is a conundrum facing Iranian officials. The government, on the one hand, wants Iranians to read more. At the same time, with the other hand, it wants to…

This writer tried to live as an otter, a fox, and a deer. Here’s what he learned.

7 July 2016 0

Being a Beast is one of the oddest and most beautiful books I’ve read this summer. It’s by Charles Foster, an Oxford fellow and veterinarian with an interest in acupuncture, and it tells the story of his attempt to live…