'I wonder, since the right brain controls the left side of the face, if we are drawn to left-symmetrical faces because they display — not more emotion — but more selfhood? Do I look at my left side because I locate my self there?' I loved this fascinating essay about reflections vs. the reality of our non-mirrored faces and how we perceive ourselves.
'Hating can be an affirmingly social experience. In a conflict-averse culture, especially, it forges strong solidarities. There are few pleasures keener than discovering that someone shares the feelings of hate you have nursed alone.' Eleven theses on hating.
'The decision to kill Marie and her roommates was easy.' How can you NOT want to read something with that line in it? (It's about Sims.)
'Performing emotions publicly on Twitter, as they are ostensibly happening, entails different kinds of vulnerability — and opportunity. Tweeting feelings demonstrates a fundamental faith that someone will see; it is a legible gesture of hopefulness that the feelings can and will be processed fully. But these feelings are also thrown into the cauldron with all the other tweets out there, including ones that get a lot more attention.' The risks and rewards of cathartic tweeting.
If you get as excited about the concept of 'surreal office novels' as I do, you'll want to add every single book mentioned here to your to-read list.
omg, remember Ghostwriter?
Speaking of the 90s: The A.V. Club's 1996 Week. (Highlights: pop culture timeline, deep dive into the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, overlooked movies of 1996, Spice Girls merchandise.)
If you want enough links to keep you occupied for the rest of the year: Slightly More Than 100 Exceptional Works of Journalism
From The City of Possibilities by Etienne Malapert
Writing on books & literature, book reviews, book lists:
The Surprising Magic of Bad Books, Amy Shearn, The Rumpus
Always Already Translated, Dora Zhang, Public Books
Harry Potter and the Sanctioned Follow-On Work (or, Fanfiction vs. the Patriarchy), Elizabeth Minkel, Medium
Is It Story That Makes Us Read?, Christian Lorentzen, Vulture
Loss in Translation, Victoria Baena, Public Books
Chris Kraus and the K-Word, Rebecca Sonkin, Los Angeles Review of Books
Granta's Summer Reads
18 Books You Should Read This August, Literary Hub
Hej, Men Nej, to “The Girl” and “Girls’ Books”: Three Swedish Women Crime Novelists, Rosemary Erickson Johnsen, Los Angeles Review of Books
Cults In Fiction, Annie Dawid, Litro
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi reviewed by Ilana Teitelbaum, Los Angeles Review of Books
Break in Case of Emergency by Jessica Winter reviewed by Emily Gould, Bookforum
We Could Be Beautiful by Swan Huntley reviewed by Erica Ruth Neubauer, Los Angeles Review of Books
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith, Reading Matters
Littleton, Halifax County, North Carolina by Adam Bellefeuil
Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?, Elizabeth Schambelan, Bookforum
The Managerial Revulsion: Re-Classing Madness in High-Rise, Glyn Salton-Cox, Los Angeles Review of Books
Sorry, everyone: The future of sex is total apathy, Charlotte Shane, Fusion
For the love of stuff, Lee Randall, Aeon
The Internet of Dead Girls, Stassa Edwards, Jezebel
Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and the Internet of Forgetting, Casey Johnston, The New Yorker
#Content: Expanding Entertainment, Collapsing Criticism, Matt Hartman, Los Angeles Review of Books
The Original Underclass, Alec MacGillis, The Atlantic
Hollywood Has Ruined Method Acting, Angelica Jade Bastién, The Atlantic
The Forgotten History of Banana Republic, Kashana Cauley, Catapult
The Irrelevant and the Contemporary, Daniel Penny, The New Inquiry
The Mystery of Hieronymus Bosch, Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books
Towards an Art History for Videogames, Lana Polansky, Rhizome
Why Do We Love Bad Singing?, Carl Wilson, Slate
Jack Loftus Ford, Hinsdale IL, 1963
The best night-themed culture
The enduring appeal of Lindsay Lohan
Who is Harley Quinn?
The Top 100 Albums Of 2016 So Far (about 1.5 of which I have actually heard of; note to self, catch up)
The Paris Review staff picks, 5 August and 12 August
The Nightmare World of Leo the Lion
Faults is on UK Netflix and it's brilliant
The Summer That Melted Everything is now available to buy and it's brilliant (and is also one of six shortlisted titles for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize)
'This week's links' is a compilation of interesting things I've seen or read online recently. Important disclaimer: linking to something isn't the same as agreeing with/endorsing every word of it.
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