Book bans are taking over America. Even Margaret Atwood wrote about her books being banned in schools, remaining confident that young readers would find a way to a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s never been easier to access books in the history of humanity. But why are books being banned? What do we hope…
There’s something very romantic about being the kind of person who spends hours poring over prose. The image conveys this ideal version of you who is immune to the world’s frivolities and distractions. So, every year, we make a promise to ourselves to read more. A quick search on YouTube pulls up thousands of videos…
Since its launch, ChatGPT has been a topic inundating every information feed. The AI language model can produce essays, articles, and code in seconds at the behest of a single prompt—introducing threats across schools, creative jobs, and some tech companies. One writer tweeted about a client wanting to cut him loose in place of ChatGPT, offering instead…
If you read this blog, it’s possible you suffer from a debilitating spending problem that haunts many bookworms. Despite a stack of books you’ve lined up for reading, you insist on buying new books anyway. And the stack piles. And piles. And piles. And one day, you’ll find that 80% of the floor space in your apartment is dedicated to stacking books you haven’t read, and you sit there, towered over by mountains of literature, racked with guilt and overwhelm. Hopefully, you are not in debt.
It doesn’t have to get this far.
Even literature can’t escape capitalism. It’s easy to forget that the world of literature isn’t a ruthless, capitalist enterprise like Facebook or Amazon. How can it be, when it churns out products that help us escape into better worlds and meet better people? Let’s talk about how the Penguin Random House merger with Simon & Schuster could affect readers everywhere.
If you’re a millennial like me, you grew up on happy endings peddled by Disney: Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White… all stories whose climaxes hinged on the heroics of a Prince Charming who isn’t present for most of the story. I now realize there’s a reason their names aren’t even in the titles. The repercussions of growing up with these narratives became apparent as I aged into heterosexual womanhood: Prince Charmings do not exist.
Yet somehow, romance novels continue to tell us otherwise. I think that does both women and men a great disservice. Here’s why.
I grew up an only child. That doesn’t necessarily mean that my parents had the luxury of time to shower me with attention. They worked around the clock, and sometimes they needed to be away for days. I spent a lot of time alone as a child, finding solace in the company of my Barbie…
There are plenty of reasons why film adaptations flop: bad casting, poor direction, unrecognizable plots. I think a lot of the failure comes from the inability to convey everything that a book can. Books are immersive and personal. They deliver an impact in a way that films cannot.
Reading enriches us in many ways. We learn new things, relax and unwind, and avoid unwanted social interaction. It can also help you become a better writer. There are two general ways to do that; one is to write a lot, obviously. The second way is to read. A lot. Let me explain.
Why can’t I get past a few pages? Picture this: you’ve picked out your favorite book. You’re a few pages into the first chapter. Despite the coffee you’re drinking, you are dozing off. You will yourself into attention, but your mind wanders into the forests of Narnia. Staying focused on lines of words on the…
