books

Nell Zink’s Novel Journey

 

“There are a lot of ways to stay safe as a writer: by not writing, by writing to no one, by writing to a single admirer, by challenging the judgment of those with the power to judge, by not putting much effort into your work. ‘It’s hard,’ Zink writes in ‘The Wallcreeper,’ ‘trying to defend your territory and advertise your presence and keep out of predators’ line of sight.'”

Every word of this Kathryn Schulz profile of novelist Nell Zink is perfect. It helps that Zink’s life story and book plots are brimming with zaniness and improbability. This was such a joy to read.

Source: Bricklayer, Bird-Watcher, Literary Sensation

The Best American Travel Writing 2014

The Best American Travel Writing 2014

The Best American Travel Writing, which highlights the best travel stories from the previous full year, arrives in bookstores and on tablets this week. The 2014 edition is edited by Paul Theroux, who has selected some outstanding reads from a variety of print and online publications. Here are few that you can read online right now:

Some honorable mentions include Thanksgiving in Mongolia, Ariel Levy’s devastating personal essay; The Fallout by Frank Bures; A Sort of Happy Ending by David Farley (yay, Farley!); Go Your Own Way by Douglas Mack (yay, Doug!); and How Hipsters Ruined Paris by Thomas Chatteron Williams.

The Best American Travel Writing 2014 is available from Amazon in print and on Kindle and as an Apple iBook. You can also buy directly from the publisher.

*These are the print magazine titles of these articles. The online titles are slightly different.

Little Libraries

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Does your community have a Little Free Library yet? These have been sprouting up around my county lately and I am really impressed with the concept. Take a book, add a book. It feels like finding lost treasure.

The first LFL I saw was focused on children’s books, which was excellent because I was at the park with my sons, who were more than happy to sit on a bench and tuck into a new tale. The box I found today had Arundhati Roy, Ann Patchett, Jeffrey Eugenides and, well, a biography of Tony Hawk. I didn’t expect every book to be for me. But I was pleased to see so many that did appeal.

Nice work, neighborhood. Nice work, Little Free Library.

Follow @LtlFreeLibrary on Twitter for updates.