What should we do with books we just don't understand ?

What Should We Do With Books We Just Don’t Understand?



What Should We Do With Books We Just Don’t Understand?
Could the book that initially seems plain wrong to us be precisely the one that allows us to understand something new about other people?
Read the story at New York Review of Books Published: 08.17.17


Study Says There’s More Swearing In Novels Now? So What Does That Actually Mean?



Study Says There’s More Swearing In Novels Now? So What Does That Actually Mean?
“On a broader level, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the art of a culture and the psychology of the society that produced it. Furthermore, noting word frequency in published writing does not have a one-to-one correspondence with spoken language in everyday life. Further furthermore, without any contextual information about how these words are used, we just have semantic fragments floating in history’s void, free of any of the things that turn them into actual language.”
Read the story at The New Republic Published: 08.16.17


The ‘Voice Of Choice’ For Audiobooks



The ‘Voice Of Choice’ For Audiobooks
“Mr. Guidall is the undisputed king of audiobooks: more than 1,300 so far, with a stack of new prospects beside his bed awaiting his attention. … He’s a bit disdainful of some of his competition in the audiobook world. ‘They’re just reading out loud,’ he said. ‘They don’t have an emotional underpinning. There’s a rhythm to speech in terms of what’s implied. If it’s raining in the book, there’s got to be something about the voice that evokes the rain.'”
Read the story at New York Times Published: 08.17.17


Fairy Tales As Useful Caution



Fairy Tales As Useful Caution
“I’ve been asked in interviews, in classrooms and by audiences, if I think fairy tales are feminist. I think they are, but not by our modern definition of feminism. Traditional fairy tales were created long before any such notion existed, and I’d say they help women, rather than lift up women. They warn, rather than extol. They’re useful, which is a much older kind of feminism.”
Read the story at LitHub Published: 08.11.17