Alison Manchester

A cartoon by Edward Steed.

How to Read “Infinite Jest” Take a selfie with book “accidentally” in background. Post on social media.

Pain is wine.

List: Useful Things to Say in English Class “The water is baptism.” “The landscape is a character.” “They descend into chaos.” “It’s about loss of innocence.” “They’re foils.” “It’s an allusi...

“Toto’s ‘Africa’” by Ernest Hemingway At the airport the young man heard far-off drums echoing in the night. He imagined the young woman in the plane sitting still, hearing whispers of ...

If Literature’s “Complicated Men” Were On Tinder Name: Holden Caulfield Age: 19 Occupation: “Jobs” are for phonies who “care” about phony stuff like “bills” and “food” About Holden: Only looking f...

"Have you seen The Matrix? No? Nevermind."

(Replace "The Matrix" with "Fight Club," of course.)

List: Phrases I May or May Not Have Used in an Attempt to Teach High School English A book is like a field; I cannot explain every blade of grass. You must discover the grass for yourself." - - -“Your essay is like a wagon. You hav...

"Would You Rather have Jay Gatsby construct you with an idealistic perfection you could never realistically attain and pursue you with a fanatical zeal or have a Gatsby-themed wedding?"

List: 20 Literary Would-You-Rathers 1. Would You Rather have Captain Ahab give his mad soliloquy to you every night before you go to sleep or get swallowed by an actual White Whale? 2...

Scandalous!

Jack London’s medical kit examined for historical connections A black case described as the Snark’s medical kit may have been misidentified for 30 years, says pharmacology professor Richard Rocco.

Grown-Up Coloring Books Based on Novels Hey, hey, hey! Coloring book time again, or “colouring” when I feel jaunty. The grown-up coloring craze continues to crank away, and we’re seeing more and more of these gems pop up with a novel (or series), as their origin. … Continued

xoxo,
Josh

100 Interesting Facts about Famous Authors 100 fun facts about writers and their fascinating lives On Twitter we recently reached the 100,000 followers milestone. (Hurrah! And do follow us if you're also a tweeter.) To celeb...

10 Classic Novel Covers in 8-bit Form Take a photograph of your girlfriend or boyfriend, wife or husband or lover. Now, pixelate it — run it through an image processor on a computer. They dissolve into art when pixelized, don’t they? Into squares and abstract images of themselves. What does it all mean? Who can even answer these questio...

James Joyce in Paris: “Deal With Him, Hemingway!” The narrator of this rare clip describes James Joyce -- arguably the greatest novelist of the 20th century -- as a 'small, thin, unathletic man with very bad eyes.' Ouch. And it gets worse.