Noteworthy reads from the last week:
“The Flowers of Romance,” Heather Havrilesky
“At a time when popularity is taken not just as a signifier of value but as the exact same thing as value, it is necessary and worthwhile to absorb just how bad the really bad books manage to get away with being while still selling millions of copies internationally.”
“What To Expect When You’re Expecting The Collapse Of Society As We Know It,” Anne Helen Petersen
“Forget the color-coded bunker, the carefully organized bug-out bags, and the piles of cash she keeps strategically stashed around the house. The most compelling thing about Bedford is how much sense her entire philosophy makes—and how it casts the rest of our utter unpreparedness into sharp relief.”
“How Many French-Literature Degrees Is Kentucky Really Paying For?,” Eric Kelderman
“Data from the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education show that relatively little state money supports students in any foreign-language field.”
“Dear Mrs D,
Thanks for your homework. Your idea of writing a Christmas ghost story was a good one, but it’s not really the kind of thing I tend to do—it’s a little bit too genre for my tastes. Try Kevin, who sits next to me. He loves that stuff.”
“Of Love and Politics,” Aurelian Craiutu
“True to his commitment to moderation, Oakeshott sought to put politics and political participation in their right place, neither too high nor too low. Our first business, he argued, is to live, the second is to understand life properly, and only after that comes changing the world, to the extent to which that might be possible.”