February 2012
78 posts
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Things I used to do to books:
I remember it like it was…this morning.
virginiacreeper:
Riffle the pages repeatedly in a sort-of obsessive-compulsive fashion.
Throw them.
Bite them.
Accidentally douse them in Vitamin Water.
Sleep on them.
Skip to the “good parts.”
Organize them thematically.
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From our Q&A with Andrew Preston, author of Sword...
Knopf: Of the trends that you’ve discovered [regarding religion in American war and diplomacy], which do you feel are most poignant to the foreign policy challenges that the U.S. is facing today? What lessons should we take from history?
Andrew Preston: The basic lesson is that religion cannot be ignored in either U.S. domestic politics or world politics. In terms of domestic politics, when presidents ignore the moral and idealistic wishes of the people, as Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush did, they lose popular support for their policies. In terms of world politics, when presidential administrations ignore religious movements or dismiss their followers as mere fanatics, they miss crucial developments in matters of war and peace. This happened to John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, who marginalized or ignored religion and were blindsided by faith-based political movements in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Knopf: Historically speaking, do you think the U.S. has more often wielded the “sword of the spirit” or the “shield of faith”? What has been the consequence of leaning one way or the other?
Andrew Preston: Policymakers have definitely wielded the sword of the spirit, while ordinary religious Americans have probably more often brandished the shield of faith. Often the impulses were in tension, and out of such tension sprang peculiarly American ways of seeing the rest of the world. But the most effective foreign policy presidents—FDR or Ronald Reagan, for example—blended the two into a highly potent ideology for America’s mission in the world.
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“If it happened once, it will never happen again. If it happened twice, it will...”
– Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
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“While there are undoubtedly conflicting interests involved, none of the problems...”
– Peter Englund drawing on the journal of Richard Stumpf in The Beauty and the Sorrow, which is about The First World War.
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Couple needs new home for 30,000-volume Rocky... →
Two self-described bookish people with an unusual dream worked a quarter-century and amassed a 30,000-volume collection on “the land and people’s connection to the land” that could make any naturalist drool.
And they work at Tattered Cover in Denver! Find out more about their library.
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From an Interview with Anne Rice about The Wolf...
Suvudu: There’s something about Reuben's experience with the supernatural that is different from that of Lestat or Louis. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Anne Rice: What interests me always with the supernatural hero—the vampire, the mummy, the witch or whatever I’m writing about—is the capacity of that person for goodness and to be a true hero or heroine. My whole effort has always been to look into the heart of that person who is perceived to be evil by others and see if I can find where that person is really being quite extraordinarily wonderful. That’s a metaphor to me about what all of us have within us: the capacity for goodness and to be heroes or heroines.
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Dachshunds, adored companions to writers and... →
Don’t even front, dachsunds. The borzoi is the premier literary dog breed.
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Feynman's letter to his wife
condalmo:
Read this and then go hug the one you love. You may want to have some tissues at hand.
Yup. Crying. A physicist is making me cry at my desk.
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“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”
– Dorothy Parker
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Walking the Walk: An Interview with Cheryl... →
Now that you know who Cheryl Strayed is, you may be interested to read her interview with Vogue Magazine about her forthcoming memoir, Wild. We’re pretty sure you’re going to love her tale about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
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“Every book better be fully intimate, it better be all you have. I’m obviously...”
– Nathan Englander on writing fiction. (via nprfreshair)
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What's the perfect love story to read for... →
Share your recommendation with us!
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A Different Stripe: The Aran Islands →
nyrbclassics:
What the monks were doing on three barren slabs of limestone in the freezing sea, why they couldn’t pray somewhere near Galway, is unclear. The islands seem to have been an ancient pilgrimage site. Perhaps the huts were shelters for pilgrims. Or maybe people just used them for smoking fish….
Is it “feature an Irish island” month? Because we’ve just...
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Here’s a clip from an audio reading of...
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“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the...”
– C. S. Lewis
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“Piet Barol, the young protagonist of Richard Mason’s thoroughly engaging...”
– Entertainment Weekly
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