“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten,” Ralph Waldo Emerson famously quipped, “even so, they have made me.” In this new bi-weekly series, Flavorwire plays professor to some of our favorite pop culture characters, assigning reading lists tailored to their temperaments or — in some cases — designed to make them into slightly better people. After all, even fictional characters can have their lives changed by books. Or so we imagine. This week, we recommend a reading list for Don Draper. … Read More
Anaïs Nin
Fascinating Photos of Famous Authors as Teenagers
Over the weekend, Vol.1 Brooklyn pointed us towards a delightful collection of never-before-seen photographs of Ernest Hemingway as a teenager, in all his handsomely smug glory. Inspired, we took it upon ourselves to dig up a handful of snapshots of other legendary authors in those awkward (or not so awkward, as the case may be) teenage years, before they penned the words that made them… Read More
The 10 Sexiest Books of All Time
Today would have been the 110th birthday of one of history’s sexiest women, Anaïs Nin. To honor her confessional and often erotic literary legacy, we suggest you spend the day reading something unabashedly sexy — but no, not Fifty Shades of Meek Girl Blushing. It wouldn’t be a tribute to Ms. Nin if it didn’t have any literary merit. After the jump, cuddle up to our picks for the ten sexiest literary works of all time — but as in all things romantic, it’s to each their own, so if these leave you cold, suggest your own favorite titillating reads in the comments. … Read More
10 Famous Authors on the Importance of Keeping a Journal
Many famous writers have kept journals or diaries — for many, it is a creative necessity, for others, a place for exploration, and for some an art form in and of itself. This week, Brain Pickings treated us to a few passages on the art of keeping a diary from Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary, and we were inspired to see what other authors had to say on the topic (we were also inspired to resume our old diaries, but never mind). After the jump, read ten famous writers on the importance of keeping a journal (or, in some cases, the lack thereof), and let us know whether you keep your own notebook, journal or diary in the comments. … Read More
The Authors With the Juiciest Love Lives
Today marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, the French novelist and performer who was, during her lifetime, hailed as France’s greatest female writer. She also had a particularly exciting love life, and a pretty stupendous life in general, and her sensual semi-autobiographical novels continue to delight readers to this day. To honor Colette’s birthday, we’ve put together a list of a few of the famous authors with the juiciest love lives, to inspire us all to love a little more extravagantly. And hey, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Read about them after the jump, and if we’ve forgotten your favorite tale of literary romance, add it to our list in the comments. … Read More
20 Books Every Woman Should Read in Her 20s
Recently, we stumbled upon this list of “fun” books that every woman should read in her 20s — needless to say, if you’re even a casual visitor to this space, the books (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Bitches on a Budget) aren’t exactly the ones we’d choose. So, perhaps rather predictably, we decided to put together our own list instead. Now, don’t forget, these are books for women in their 20s — we assume you’ve already read as much Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott as you care to, we expect that you’ve already tackled To Kill a Mockingbird and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Jane Eyre. And though women should read all books about all kinds of things and by all kinds of authors, this list sort of necessarily skews towards both female writers and characters, given the topic of the day. Click through to check out our reading list — and since every woman should read more than 20 books in her 20s (hundreds, ladies!), add your own favorites in the comments. … Read More
Breakup Letters From Famous Authors
The holidays are a time for joy, love, and family. Unfortunately, they’re also the time of year that a lot of couples break up — whether because of the stress of extended family get-togethers or just the cold feet of winter, we don’t know. But how to part ways in the most eloquent way? Take a few pointers from one of your favorite authors, of course! We’ve collected a few breakup letters from famous lovers and writers to offer you some gentle phrases and piercing metaphors to make the process easier (or harder, if you prefer) on your ex-lover-to-be. We just hope you’re not writing this from prison, à la a certain Mr.… Read More
20 Famous Writers on Death and Mortality
Today marks the publication of Mortality, confrontational journalist Christopher Hitchens’ posthumous work about his experiences with the cancer that killed him. We’ve lost a lot of great minds recently — Nora Ephron, Maurice Sendak, David Rakoff, and Hitch himself — and we think this end-of-life memoir in essays, full of Hitchens’ trademark wit and his clear-eyed dissection of life as he sees it, may just heal us a little bit, as books tend to do. To celebrate the book’s publication, and to help recalibrate our own perspectives on the loss of so many of our intellectual heroes, we’ve put together this selection of passages on death and mortality from a few of our favorite authors. Read through after the jump, and since there are an infinite number of these, add your own favorite to our collection in the comments. … Read More
Doodling on the Faces of Famous Writers
When video director and editor Michael Daye found himself at home with a box of postcards of 100 famous authors and nothing to do, he decided to take a Sharpie and have a little fun. Doodling on the faces of the defenseless writers, Daye created a series of often charming artworks of his own — sometimes the augmentations are relevant to the author they decorate, and sometimes they’re just for show, but we love the way he has taken these iconic faces and made them his own. Click through to see some of our favorites from the project, and head over to Daye’s Tumblr to check out even more. … Read More
This Is What Happens When You Tell Anaïs Nin How to Write Erotica
When an anonymous patron instructed Anaïs Nin to “leave out the poetry” and “concentrate on sex” in the erotic fiction that he was paying her $1 a page to compose, she was, understandably, quite put out. “Sex loses all its power and magic when it becomes explicit, mechanical, overdone, when it becomes a mechanistic obsession,”… Read More
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