Weekend Reading
A fall NYC sunset
Literary
- Sylvia Plath’s unseen drawings from her private letters were displayed on Brain Pickings this week. I could spend days on that blog.
- Beautiful, wise words aren’t only found it books. November 19 marks the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. On Learn The Address, documentarian Ken Burns (his documentaries are fantastic) encourages everyone in America to learn the address and record a video of themselves reciting it. The website currently has all living U.S. presidents, notable politicians, and celebrities reciting this famous, important speech.
- An article in The New Yorker explores if literature should be useful.
- This article in the Times got a lot of press this week – Child-Proofing Harry Potter. How much should we reveal to children and when? Are we doing them a disservice by shielding them from literature’s more upsetting themes?
- CNN did a wrap-up of 14 beautiful hotels inspired by literature. I’m pretty sure that I’ll never have the money to stay in any of these.
- Think you’re good at grammar? Try this quiz from the NY Times, with answers and explanations at the bottom.
Travel
- 16 people from around the world talk about what surprised them when coming to America. Some of these are expected: obesity, portion size, lack of public transport; while others are surprising: that American families don’t tend to stay with relatives when they travel (maybe my family is the exception?), that we can pay for almost anything on credit cards, and that people in the U.S. are often religious and take these beliefs very seriously. It’s always interesting to hear what people think of us!
Funny
