A Study Says Reading Aloud Usually Helps Humans Remember Better

                                                The world is at least
                        fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
                        estimate, though I keep this from my children.
                        For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
                        For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
                        sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
                        is at least half terrible, and for every kind
                        stranger, there is one who would break you,                        though I keep this from my children.

Byelections have a particular place in political folklore. Anyone involved in politics at the time remembers Flinders, Canberra, Lindsay, Ryan, Aston and how they transformed the politics of the day, either by "rocking" the government, or giving a government often beset by woes a huge shot in the arm. Long after we all forget how both sides of politics were claiming the Bennelong byelection as a win, it will go down in political folklore as Malcolm Turnbull's "recalled to life" moment - a result most notable for the fact that the alternative would have blown up politics.

Bennelong: Malcolm Turnbull's 'recalled to life' moment | afr.com

Almanac: Tom Stoppard on the theater business

“Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.” Tom Stoppard, screenplay forShakespeare in Love ... read more

Best Beatles Book You've Never Heard Of: Find out why one author contends that Michael Braun’s 1964 ‘Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress’ is “the best Beatles book to date.”

Gender Inequality in Literary Prizes: A VIDA report finds that women are still vastly overlooked for prizes in comparison to male authors.

Ferrante Is Working On a New Novel: The new work is reported to be separate from the TV screenplay the author is working on for the adaptation of her Neapolitan series.

A Pseudonym Scandal at Marvel: Editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski wrote multiple series for Marvel from 2004 to 2005 under a Japanese pseudonym to circumvent company policy.

How a Bookseller Became a Bag Seller: New York’s Strand Book Store has been making tote bags since the 1980s. Today, it boasts more than 100 designs.

Decent Men in Fiction: Hunting for a few good men in your reading life? They're harder to find in literature than you might think. Here are a few.

Is The Internet Making Us Into Worse Writers?      from The Economist

A Short Story Exposes Huge Gaps In The New Universe Of Literary Criticism

In this case, the media has been thrust in the position of the literary critic, drawing lines between the artwork and the broader culture. This isn’t a bad development, exactly—it’s great that a short story is making headlines. But it is also worth noting that the boundaries of literary criticism, at least as they are traditionally conceived, are being exceeded across the internet. The response to “Cat Person” is the latest evidence that we have entered new territory for online criticism, and no one quite knows what to make of it.

Welcome To The News Paywall 2.0      from The Atlantic

Good Readers Versus Bad Readers      from Boston Review

James Salter: Why I Became A Writer      from Lithub

How Dana Gioia Composes His Poems (Very Physically)      from BBC

A Whole New Variety Of English Has Developed In The Lesvos Refugee Camp      from New Statesman

You Know How People Start Reading Books And Don’t Finish? They’re No Better About Audiobooks      from The Guardian

Why Hearing The Sounds Of Nature Make Us Feel Physically Better…

"A study published in March demonstrated that natural sounds have the ability to relieve psychological and physiological stress. Using fMRI and heart-rate monitoring, researchers Gould van Praag, et al, of the University of Sussex found that listening to natural sounds improved parasympathetic activity, whereas listening to artificial sounds prompted sympathetic  arousal." … [Read More]

Best Fiction of 2017.

Best Nonfiction of 2017.

Hanukkah Gifts: 12 Books To Give Everyone – The Forward


The Ten Best Science Books of 2017

 The Ten Best Travel Books of 2017

A Study Says Reading Aloud Usually Helps Humans Remember Better

Involving more senses probably helps. "The authors suggest that reading things aloud involves different types of processing, which makes it more active and engages us more than reading silently." … [Read More]

One Perfect Way To Describe Our Experiences Of 2017

We all need a way to de-stress and unwind from, let's say, things in the outside world that are troubling or flat-out terrifying. But don't try to take our phones away! … [Read More]