paper trail

May 8, 2013 @ 12:06:00 am

Getrude Stein

We might soon be paying taxes on books bought online if the Market Fairness Act—which “sailed” through the Senate on Monday with a 69-27 vote—has similar luck in the House. If the bill passes, it will go into effect in 2014.

New York Magazine book critic Katherine Schulz explains why she finds The Great Gatsby “aesthetically overrated, psychologically vacant, and morally complacent.” Meanwhile, the New York Times tracks down real estate developers who have named their properties after the novel.

Amanda Knox talks with the New York Times Book Review about her reading habits in prison: “Different books helped me through different periods in different ways. For instance, over time the prison grew more and more overpopulated, and at a certain point, I was struggling to cope with a cellmate who became increasingly confrontational and violent. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, was a humorous distraction from the tension.”

Bookforum contributor Jessica Winter is leaving her post as arts editor at Time to become the business and technology editor at Slate.

Our new favorite Tumblr: American Spoken Language, which creates audio files of Gertrude Stein poems by splicing together single words from hundreds of hip-hop songs.

Let’s all welcome the Buenos Aires Review, a new digital, bilingual magazine dedicated to featuring emerging writers from across the Spanish-speaking world.