Oyster Pirates

This week in book-related infographics: “ Unusual Jobs of Famous Writers ,” from Chuck Palahniuk (diesel mechanic) to Jack London (oyster ...

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The Social Function of the Novel

Recommended reading: Tim Parks asks “ what is the social function of the novel? “ from The Millions http://ift.tt/1MhzJHu

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That Moment When

“I can still remember with complete clarity the way I felt when whatever it was came fluttering down into my hands that day 30 years ago on ...

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An X-Ray of My Holiday Suitcase

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com Related: An Awkward Adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” The Cartoon Lounge: Bob and Co...

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Pet Brick

“Ethics,” a prose poem by Adam LeFevre from our Winter 1975 issue . LeFevre, now sixty-four, is also a playwright and an established charac...

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By Way of a Recommendation

Charles D’Ambrosio ‘s Loitering has officially made it into our Hall of Fame . It was also a finalist for the PEN award for the Art of the ...

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Staff Picks: Baseball Cards, Barbarian Days, Blow-up Dolls

Cesare Paverse In the evenings, I’ve been reaching for Cesare Paverse’s 1936 debut collection of poetry,  Hard Labor , translated from th...

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All the Beginnings Have Endings

“Every story I have ever told has a kind of breach to it, I think. You could say that my writing isn’t quite right. That all the beginnings ...

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Beautiful Image

From a 1918 ad for “Radior,” a face cream containing radium If I hate anything that smacks of “self-care”—and I do—I come by this antipat...

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Goodbye to Brazenhead

Recommended reading: Brian Patrick Eha ‘s goodbye to Brazenhead Books , published in the New Yorker . Pair with J.T. Price ‘s piece on the c...

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Drawings from a Prisoner of War, and Other News

Frederick Gokliz, Warfare , ca. 1890s. Image via Slate/Newberry Library Mark von Schlegell talks about the paperback revolution and its ...

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Episode 27: Literary Characters as Republican Presidential Primary Candidates

Welcome to a new episode of The Book Report presented by The Millions ! This week, Janet and Mike discuss characters from literature they...

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Panther and Lilies

Lajos Vajda, Panther and Lilies , 1930-33, photocollage on paper, 25.5" x 20" The Hungarian artist Lajos Vajda died in 1941, wh...

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The Bookstore-Hostel

Love reading and sleeping? Then we’ve found the perfect vacation destination for you: a bookstore and hostel combination in Tokyo, Japan. ...

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My Grandmother’s Wheelchair

The author, posing with his grandmother, Natalie Faunda, in Budapest, in 1990.  My grandmother had a stroke in her late sixties. She was ...

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Go Get A Refund

Unhappy with Go Set A Watchman ? You may be able to get your money back. Traverse City’s Brilliant Books is offering a refund to customers,...

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The Millions Top Ten: July 2015

We spend plenty of time here on The Millions telling all of you what we’ve been reading, but we are also quite interested in hearing abou...

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Fiction Changing History

In an article for Vanity Fair , Meredith Turtis argues that “perhaps fiction… can change the place women have in history, ” by giving fo...

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The Perils of Self-Care

From an early twentieth-century ad for St. Morritz Here is a partial list of things to dread about spa treatments: Getting lost in a loc...

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Saying Goodbye to a Secret Bookstore

I suppose it’s O.K. to give away the address now. The books are gone, packed up in dozens of cardboard boxes and hauled away. When you ring ...

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