Book News & Features

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'Joy Enough' Recalls A Daughter's All-Encompassing Love For Her Mother

10:55am January 16, 2019

by Martha Anne Toll

Sarah McColl unstintingly puts her heart on the page as she reflects on caring for her dying mother, with whom she is unimaginably close, as her marriage fails.

When the Gran Splendid Theater in Buenos Aires was converted into a branch of the Ateneo bookstore, the stage became a cafe. It was just named "the world's most beautiful bookstore" by National Geographic.

Inside 'The World's Most Beautiful Bookstore' In Argentina

6:57pm January 12, 2019

by Bob Mondello

National Geographic has named El Ateneo Grand Splendid the top shop in the world. But that's only where the history of the 100-year-old Buenos Aires building, once a palatial theater, begins.

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Manhattan Theater Bookstore Saved By 'Hamilton' Partners

7:27am January 09, 2019

The Drama Book Shop, which has served the acting community for more than 100 years, was slated to close this month. But Lin-Manuel Miranda and his Hamilton partners stepped in to purchase the shop.

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American actor Theodore Roberts as Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's silent version of The Ten Commandments — one of many works from 1923 that entered the public domain on Jan. 1.

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Arts

Freed From Copyright, These Classic Works Are Yours To Adapt

12:01pm January 05, 2019

by Milton Guevara

For the first time in 20 years, a large body of films, music, and books has entered the public domain. That means they can be reworked by new creators in conversation with the originals.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, you don't exactly level up.

Books
Arts

Reading The Game: Red Dead Redemption 2

7:00am January 01, 2019

by Jason Sheehan

Our occasional series about storytelling returns with a look at Red Dead Redemption 2, which inverts one of the biggest tropes in video games — the Power Curve. There's no leveling up here.

Robert Bly, pictured here in 1980, is known as the chief proponent of the Men's Movement of the 1990s. But in the poetry world, he's known for emotionally charged work about nature, the Vietnam War and personal unburdening.

Books
Arts

The Poet Of Minnesota, Vietnam And Mythical Men

4:21pm December 21, 2018

by Tom Vitale

Robert Bly is probably best known for his controversial nonfiction book Iron John. But as a poet, he's conjured deeply resonant imagery of nature and war for 60 years, as his Collected Poems reveal.

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In the story "The Mole and the Sun," Mole's mother is sick. A medical seer tells him she will recover if his friend Ya Sun can orbit the earth in the opposite direction that it's rotating. The sobering moral is that you can't go against the rules of natur

Magical Photos Bring Fables From Mbomo To Life

9:53am December 17, 2018

by Rachel D. Cohen

The fables were gathered from people in the Congo Basin and illustrated with a touch of magical realism in the new book Congo Tales: Told By The People Of Mbomo.

Blue flag blooming along Walden Pond in early fall.

Books
Arts

Reading The Game: Walden

7:00am December 13, 2018

by Jason Sheehan

Our occasional series on storytelling in video games returns with the most intentionally literary game we've ever looked at: Walden, A Game, in which you play as Henry David Thoreau (yes, really).

Trish Trash, Rollergirl of Mars, by Jessica Abel

Books
Arts

In 'Trish Trash,' Roller Derby — And Anti-Capitalist Parable — On Mars

7:00am December 08, 2018

by Etelka Lehoczky

Jessica Abel's comic Trish Trash, Rollergirl of Mars isn't just a sports story and a coming-of-age tale, it's a masterful critique of capitalism that stays engaging despite a few wobbles.

Author Glory Edim uses her literary society to signal boost emerging black women writers.

Books
Arts

'Well-Read Black Girl' Turns Books Into Community

6:00am December 02, 2018

by Andrea Y. Henderson

With her new anthology, Glory Edim says she wants to "capture the energy and vibrancy of what it means to be a black woman in the literary space."