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10 Famous Writers on How to Drink

By Emily Temple on

This week, we read a fascinating essay by famed journalist H.L. Mencken, also known as the Sage of Baltimore, entitled “How to Drink Like a Gentleman: The Things to Do and the Things Not To, as Learned in 30 Years’ Extensive Research.” Needless to say, we learned quite a bit, and, eager for more advice on life’s finer things from literary types, we’ve collected a few quotes from famous writers on how to drink. Pick up some tips after the jump, and if we’ve missed your favorite missive, add it to our list in the comments. … Read More

Books

The 25 Greatest Essay Collections of All Time

By Emily Temple on

This week marks the release of Aleksandar Hemon’s excellent book of personal essays, The Book of My Lives, which we loved, and which we’re convinced deserves a place in the literary canon. To that end, we were inspired to put together our list of the greatest essay collections of all time, from the classic to the contemporary, from the personal to the critical. In making our choices, we’ve steered away from posthumous omnibuses and multi-author compilations, and given what might be undue weight to our favorite writers (as one does). Click through to see our nominations for the 25 greatest essay collections of all… Read More

Books

12 Great Videos of Famous Authors Giving Advice to Aspiring Writers

By Emily Temple on

We could all use a little advice — especially the aspiring writers among us. Inspired by a delightful (and actually sincere-seeming!) video from John Hodgman that surfaced last week, we’ve rounded up a collection of videos of famous authors, from Anne Rice to Martin Amis, doling out wisdom essential for readers and writers alike. Set aside the next hour to get a healthy dose of writerly inspiration, and link us to any videos we missed in the comments! … Read More

Books

10 of the Most Divisive Authors in Recent History

By Emily Temple on

Recently, we stumbled upon an article over at Open Letters Monthly that asked, “Is Cormac McCarthy a Terrible Writer?” The author, Rohan Maitzen, discusses McCarthy’s particular prose style in The Road, which has been celebrated by some and roundly reviled by others. We’ve always been interested in the idea that many of the greatest writers also seem to have the most detractors, so to explore further, we’ve rounded up a few of the most divisive authors in recent… Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It’s Like Inside Nabokov’s House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It's Like Inside Nabokov's House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

Books

The 10 Grumpiest Authors in Literary History

By Emily Temple on

The new issue of The Believer features an interview with the late Maurice Sendak. Inspired by his “legendary crossness,” we’ve rounded up a list of the grumpiest authors of all… Read More

Books

Christopher Hitchens’ Reading List for an Eight-Year-Old Girl

By Emily Temple on

What should little girls read if they’re aspiring “free thinkers?” According to Christopher Hitchens, a lot of the classics. When Hitchens attended Texas Freethought Convention to accept the Richard Dawkins Award, an eight-year-old girl named Mason Crumpacker took the mic and asked him what books he would recommend that she read. Delighted, Hitchens asked her to meet him after the presentation, where he rattled off a few books he thought she might like.

According to the Houston Chronicle, with additional input from Mason’s mom, the list goes something like this: Greek and Roman myths compiled by Robert Graves (Mason claimed to have read these, but according to her mother, it’s I, Claudius she’s a fan of), The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins, anything satirical by Shakespeare or Geoffrey Chaucer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations, PG Wodehouse’s Sunset at Blandings (“for fun”), David Hume’s philosophy, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Click through to watch a video of part of their meeting, and let us know if you’ll be adding some of these books to your reading list (it’s okay if you’re older than eight). … Read More

Books

20 Famous Writers on Death and Mortality

By Emily Temple on

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

Books

10 New Must Reads for September

By Emily Temple on

Fall is always a huge season for the publishing industry. It makes sense: all those back to school feelings making everyone long for stacks of books to carry around, the holiday season right around the corner, beach-goers ready to read Big Serious Fiction again. But this first fall month is a particularly huge one, with a slew of modern masters (Chabon, Smith, Díaz, Rowling, Rushdie) publishing meaty books that we can’t wait to get our hands on. If you’re feeling that wistful back to school reading urge — or just looking for something to hide in the jacket of your chemistry book this fall — we’ve got just the ticket. Click through to check out our list of the books we’re most excited about this month, and let us know which ones are calling your name in the… Read More