Do You Finish Every Book?
plus interviews with Sarah Gerard & Nazlı Koca, a St. Patrick's Day playlist, Summer Brennan's free essay camp, new music from Fenne Lily, a new essay by Amitava Kumar, and more
My reading is defined these days by what gets covered on Largehearted Boy. If I read a chapter or two and enjoy the book, I invite the author to write a playlist for the book, then finish when the playlist is in hand. If I do not like the book, it gets placed in the giveaway pile. If the writer does not share a playlist on the site, the book is added to my ever-growing TBR pile for the future.
In the past, I read every book from cover to cover. Even as a child, I felt bound to finish a book I started. Skimming became a bad habit, rushing to the end of a title, and often reading felt like more of an obligation than a joy.
These days I am happy to be able to put a book aside relatively easily. Occasionally, I wonder if the book will pick up, surprise me in some way, but usually I am happy to move on to the next title in my TBR stack.
Do you finish every book? I’d love to hear your perspective.
Largehearted Likes
Sarah Gerard talked to Stay Brave about bravery
Fear isn't a reason to give up. Neither is criticism. Or disapproval. Or not knowing how to do it yet. Or not being perfect. Part of bravery is forgiving yourself when you mess up.…we don’t want to live in a city where a pepperoni slice has to cost $6, because the mozzarella is hand-pulled and the flour comes from a farm upstate. Some things don’t have to be precious, which is exactly what makes most of the floppy, glossy slices in this city so necessary.
Grimm’s Maximum Hoppiness India Pale Ale
Another solid west coast IPA from my favorite brewery.
Friedrich Engels’s Eulogy to Karl Marx
Iced tea
This week we had freezing temperatures in New York City, a bit of snow, and howling winds, but my drink of choice was still iced black tea (preferably brewed from Luzianne teabags). Pro tip: to make true southern “sweet tea,” boil the water with the sugar already added.
Game Rangers International
This Zambian nonprofit works with orphaned elephant calves to return them to the wild.The Cure’s Robert Smith speaking out against Ticketmaster
Earlier this week, Smith posted about the band’s decision to use Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fan” system in an effort to combat scalping and get more face-value tickets in fans’ hands. He says the band refused to participate in the company’s dynamic pricing and “Platinum” tickets, calling the program that led to tickets on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s current tour to skyrocket to thousands of dollars “a greedy scam.”Electric Literature’s interview with author Nazlı Koca
AO: As someone currently in academia, how does that impact Leyla’s perspective?Can you elaborate on that?
NK: There’s nothing I could add to Leyla’s take on academia as someone who stayed in it. All universities run on the white-collar ethos of “We’re doing it all for the love of books.” No. This is not love. This is capitalism at its best, and you’re just a part of the system. A system that’s based on exploitation, manipulation, and hoarding power. And you’re holding on to dated rules and requirements for admission and success because you want to thrive in it.
Largehearted Links
“I’m not talking to people from the elevated position of ‘I’m the one who knows, and you’re the one who asked the question, so sit back and listen.’ Instead, I give a kind of horizontal advice,” explains Strayed. “I’m gonna get right down there in the mud with you and grapple with this question you asked and tell you what I’ve learned. That’s the way I give advice.”
Summer Brennan’s Free Essay Camp
Back by popular demand, the third semiannual Essay Camp is finally here! Beginning on Monday, March 27th, join thousands of other writers for a five day essay writing workshop in the write-along style.
An interview with Margaret Atwood
How does it feel to be declared unacceptable in Madison County, Virginia, where The Handmaid’s Tale has just been banned from school libraries by the school board?
I’m not alone in being unacceptable. Toni Morrison and Stephen King are banned, too. It’s supposedly because there is too much sex in our books. So, when are they going to kick out the Bible, because that’s got lots of sex in it?What Drum Machines Can Teach Us About Artificial Intelligence
…before we rage against the drum machine, we should seek to understand its origins and its potential. I think that, in studying the evolution of this technology, we can learn something important about automation, the future of artificial intelligence, and what it means to be human in the machine age.Carina Del Valle Schorske on the Pointer Sisters’ song “Fairytale”
In my favorite live footage of “Fairytale,” Bonnie’s hair is smoothed into victory rolls, while June wears hers in a neat Afro. Ruth and Anita have big flowers pinned in their pageboys. If nostalgia requires reverence, there’s nothing nostalgic in the way they carry the country tune: The harmonies are seamless but the dancing is unruly, almost slapstick, as if history’s a choreography you should never learn too well.
Saskia Vogel on finding new ways to write (and talk) about pornography
Is porn a scourge or is it a tool for liberation? Between these two poles, so much gets confused or goes missing. Any discussion about the space where porn and sex work meet will be complex, the two topics being both separate and entwined, and such conversations are not made any easier by the conflation in the public sphere of sex work and sex trafficking.Richard Mirabella’s “growing up queer coming-of-age reading list”
Here are books about children learning about the troubles of the world, young adults trying to find their place as queer people in a straight society, and a few adults who don’t quite fit into the mold of expected adulthood, who are still trying to shake off the skins of their former selves. I chose these books also because they portray queer life in original and truthful ways, not idealizing them, or making them strictly tragic; they cover a spectrum of experience.
Last Week’s LHB Feature Posts
Devin Johnston’s playlist for his poetry collection Dragons
Elizabeth Gonzalez James’s playlist for her book Five Conversations About Peter Sellers
Idra Novey’s playlist for her novel Take What You Need
Leslie Stein’s playlist for her graphic novel Brooklyn’s Last Secret
Rafael Frumkin’s playlist for his novel Confidence
Tom Comitta’s playlist for their novel The Nature Book
Yvette Lisa Ndlovu’s playlist for her story collection Drinking from Graveyard Wells