What we read while Google Earth-ing the rest of the Middle East:
- Our friends over at The Millions got a jump start on decade-in-review countdowns, ranking the best novels of the last 10 years. For those who, like us, enjoyed Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, No. 4 on The Millions’ list, they offer a complete “Bolaño syllabus” for how to read more of the still-being-translated Chilean. And if decade-in-review countdowns are up your alley, get pumped for December, when we exercise our own love of rankings and unleash a massive retrospective on the last 10 years.
- We’ve known about Tampa Bay Rays’ outfielder-cum-poet Fernando Perez for over a year now. Perez, a Jersey Guy and Columbia alum, is one of the most articulate athletes to come along in some time, a talent he showcases in an essay on poetry he wrote for the latest issue of Poetry Magazine. Perez has also written glimpses at Major League life for The New York Times‘ Bats blog and at Minor League life for MiLB.com.
- This would probably rank highly on our list of “Differences between South Carolina and what we understand as normality.” Articles containing the words “crossbow,” “alligator,” and “16-year-old cheerleader” don’t normally end this happily. Something tells me she’d do fine at the Jersey school that apparently needs Tim Meadows and Tina Fey to step in to stop hazing.
- John S does not take lightly to anything that in any way critiques the livelihood of Bro-dy Jenner.
- It was more than a week ago that Fire Joe Morgan staged a one-day reunion on Deadspin, but this takedown of Derek Jeter is, to some of us, timeless.
- Josh wrote about the advantages of being tall some time ago; he did not mention the threshold beyond which those advantages kind of disappear–you know, somewhere around 8-feet. The newly-minted world’s tallest man, Sultan Kosen, has been on a bit of a swing through the Western hemisphere of late, attracting sex advice and even a date with an English journalist. Less exciting? His trip to Citi Field.
