Monday Hangovers - Gwenda Bond

Maria Tatar on one of my very favorite topics: tricksters, and specifically lady tricksters, in the New Yorker.
The Morning News Tourney of Books is up and running. The commentary after The Fault in Our Stars win is particularly worth your time. I thought this, especially, was extremely well put from Kevin Guilfoile: "You and I were socialized to believe we were too cool to do almost anything. Our generation has been paralyzed by slacker inertia. Our hero is David Letterman, whose job it is to have the greatest gig in the world and act constantly like he doesn’t want it. That has always been the Platonic ideal of success for you and me and our peers. Maybe that’s why John Green’s books make me cry. Because he reminds you that you don’t have to be like that." I think I spent my 20s unlearning this attitude. Enthusiasm and action? Trump cool every time. (Or, rather, are the beating heart of actual coolness. Even better? Stop caring about coolness at all.)
Lev Grossman on writing a novel. Oh, god, yes, this. All of this.
A discussion of whether urban fantasy is inherently liberal (a counterpoint to the recent 'is epic fantasy conservative?' convo) at Tor.com.
Jane Hu on Gilmore Girls for the Awl. I love (and agree with) this whole piece SO much. Snippet: "In another way, cultural studies appears in exact keeping with "Gilmore Girls," as it tests the line between serious art and entertainment, the avant-garde and the popular. As a writer and a reader, my fantasy is to work in a world where the Harlequin romance, a NYBR classics release, and so-called academic prose all deserve re-readings—because they can all be read seriously, each one being worth serious attention." Yesss.
Slide show: A secret history of women and tattoo.
Really interesting piece from Grammnet's Brian Taylor (who's developing Blackwood for TV) on the role data could play in TV development at the Huffington Post.
Feeling sleepless? This New Yorker article probably won't help, but is fascinating. (Apparently I was catching up on NYer stuff like crazy last week.)
Linda Holmes on romantic comedies at NPR. Another great piece: "What's most profoundly wrong is the terrible, mean-spirited scripts that are getting made, that are making people feel justified in using "rom-com" as an eye-rolling insult, and we've got to stop that first. Stop saying "chick flick" like it's "pile of rotten meat," and stop saying "chick lit" and "chick book" and "chick movie" and anything else that suggests that love stories are less than war stories, or that stories that end with kissing are inherently inferior to stories that end with people getting shot. Or, if you believe they are and you want to continue believing that they are, stop pretending you're open to romantic comedies getting better."
Kat Howard interviewed at the Rejectionist. Yay.

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