On this day in 1933, Cormac McCarthy was born. The great American novelist moved around a lot, and served in the Air Force for four years. After returning to the University of Tennessee in 1957, he was awarded an Ingram-Merrill Award for creative writing. He has published ten novels and has an eleventh on the way. His…
In honor of what would be Victor Hugo's 214th birthday (wow), enjoy a tribute to his most famous and longest-lived work, Les Misérables. Let's start by defining what "les misérables" means. The literal translation is "the miserable ones," but there remains the distinct possibility that the thematic significance of the title may still be a mystery. It's likely that…
Today is the anniversary of the Bard's birth. Check out ways to commemorate the day below, complete with cakes, quizzes, quotes and more. 1. Bake a Shakespeare-inspired birthday cake Introducing... Cakespeare! To celebrate Shakespeare's b-day, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London invited bakers to design cakes inspired by the Bard's prose. See a few…
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If you happened to be in Key West, Florida during the third week of July, you may have found yourself caught in a sudden and strange upsurge in the local population of white-bearded men sporting cable-knit fishermen's turtlenecks. You may have wondered why said men were often found gathered in the streets—donning Pamplona-red neck-scarves, their…
Read More "The Old Men and the Sea: 150 Hemingway Look-Alikes Descend on the Florida Keys"
There are lots of things we expect on the Fourth: fireworks, friends, family. There are things we love (sparklers, Roman candles, cold beer) and things we despise (sauerkraut, ambrosia, Lee Greenwood... all right, haters... this was from a friend. Direct all your spittle-filled anger elsewhere). Here are a few unexpected things about the Fourth you…
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Oh yes, there you are, with your party hat on. What with the recent NSA scandal, George Orwell's dystopian caution that "Big Brother is watching you" has never seemed so relevant. In fact, sales of 1984 skyrocketed just after news broke that the US government was tapping into your average Verizon member's mundane phone calls.…
Last night, I found my sixteen-year-old daughter in bed a full hour early. In her hands was Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. "I want to see what is happening with Scout. I'm worried about her," she explained. My daughter, like millions of other readers, has become enthralled by the coming-of-age story of Scout…
There are so many quotes I could draw from that would be emblematic of the character of Charles Bukowski, the larger-than-life poet, novelist, alcoholic, and "grim prophet of love." But today, on the day he would have turned 92, I choose "two nights before my 72nd birthday." Written exactly two decades ago, shortly before his…
