One For The Books: Filling out collegiate summer reading lists

As the weather begrudgingly becomes balmy and the radiators, tired after a long winter, begin to sputter to a halt, even the most term-paper-laden Columbia students know that summer is nigh.

By Rebecca Evans | Apr 23 09:44 pm ET

Extending National Poetry Month

If April is the cruelest month, April 15 is certainly the year’s lowest point: it’s the last day to mail tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service.

By Rebecca Evans | Apr 9 10:37 pm ET

One for the books: Literary creativity and suicide

One of the most wrenching news items this week was the death of 47-year-old Nicholas Hughes, the son of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Hughes took his own life on March 16, and the Times of London reported his death on March 23.

By Rebecca Evans | Mar 27 12:24 am ET

One For The Books: Does Best-Seller Methodology Make the List?

Oscar Season may have finally reached its glittering conclusion, but the natural desire to know what is finally, conclusively, objectively the best spans both season and medium. For literature, there are two measures: major prizes and best-seller lists.

By Rebecca Evans | Feb 27 01:25 am ET

One for the Books: A Good Book is Hard to Find

Tracking down a good book can be a challenge.

Most avid readers have a handful of reliable resources—certain best-seller lists, respected publications, and reviewers who have a history of sharing their personal tastes. Such methods, however, have their drawbacks, the most prevalent of which is predictability.

By Rebecca Evans | Feb 8 11:27 pm ET

A Fan of Fiction, Not a Fan of Fan Fiction

I’ll start by coming clean—I have a serious aversion to fan fiction. Something about it just gives me the creeps.

By Rebecca Evans | Nov 12 07:57 pm ET

Don't Judge a Book by its Subway Line

I was sitting at the 14th Street 1/2/3 subway station, doing some reading for a poetry lecture and waiting for the train. A portly older man in a pinstriped suit sat down next to me.

By Rebecca Evans | Oct 22 07:09 pm ET

Are English Majors Necessary?

Sometimes, being a bookworm, you start to doubt whether what you do has any real impact on the world.

By Rebecca Evans | Oct 1 07:32 pm ET

Nathaniel Rich Writes in Tongues

There’s nothing better than a meta-book, as every true bookworm knows. By “meta-book,” I mean a book about books, a book for people who like books, a book about people who like books.

By Rebecca Evans | Apr 13 11:15 pm ET

Love in the Time of Cheapening Chick-Lit

A few months ago, I was comparing current reading material with a friend. He was halfway through Roberto Bolaño’s Savage Detectives and couldn’t stop raving about the book.

By Rebecca Evans | Feb 11 01:01 am ET