“Is it still celebrated?” Yes.
On June 19, a passage from Ralph Ellison’s Juneteenth.
Tea cakes and lemonade
From a New York Times article about publicity for the new, not-new Harper Lee novel Go Set a Watchman.
Liveright Bookshop, Hotel Dressler
A 1925 ad promising sanctuary and speed, relaxed browsing and instant gratification. Reminiscent of what goes in his Steven Millhauser’s novel Martin Dressler.
Hooverville 2.0
The Grapes of Wrath and us.
“Taste worth dying for!”
The Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona, seems like an outtake from David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
The word and the world
“Changing the word does little to change the categories that structure Huck Finn’s thinking, which are those of the world in which Huck has been raised.”
Huck's Raft
From Joyce Carol Oates' review of Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood , by Steven Mintz: Huck's Raft is an inspired title for a bo...
Oprah picks Faulkner
From Reuters: Talkshow host Oprah Winfrey propelled Nobel-prize winning author William Faulkner up the bestseller list on Saturday, proving ...