Reading Roundup, March 12
Slate Magazine has some excellent book coverage this week, including Katha Pollitt’s review of Elaine Schowalter’s new book, A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to to Annie Proulx (Knopf Publishing Group), and Nathan Heller’s take on the new John Cheever biography, Cheever: A Life (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group), by Blake Bailey.
I read Slate so often that I’ve come to take their in-depth coverage of books a little for granted, and shouldn’t. Slate also has a book club podcast that I’ve been meaning to listen to, and offers a weekly poem, including a podcast of the poet reading it. The podcasts are available on iTunes, too.
How great is that?
And my new favorite, Book Beast on The Daily Beast, continues to offer up great book coverage, from lists of recommended books from authors and other notable people, to videos of authors speaking about their work, to in-depth articles on books and their significance. I find myself checking back nearly every day.
Finally, I’d like to point out something that was probably only surprising to me: YouTube is incredibly well stocked with video of authors giving readings (including the one above, more David Sedaris), as well as panel discussions, writing instruction and more. As always with YouTube, some of this stuff is better quality (both content and video clarity), some worse. But I’ve enjoyed lectures, author interviews and more. I share some here, but there’s a lot out there. Check it out.