Okay, so, first of things, yes, Dante's whole SITUATION-DEAL with Beatrice was probably as much literary device as it was genuine affection, which I am fully in the capableness of getting; I am not so adrift from historical context that I've forgotten about courtly love tropes and am like, worried for the sake of this dead Florentine's right to privacy, so go ahead and delete that email, Alighierians; this is strictly for the purposes of fun.
Laura Passin's previous work for The Toast, which is lovely and always makes Nicole cry when she edits it, can be found here. I don’t exactly remember when I first encountered the writing of the great neurologist Oliver Sacks--I think I was in my teens, and somehow I heard about
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
, which remains the most charmingly titled science book not…
"But we have received a sign, Edith – a mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm...in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig'...we have no ordinary pig." "Well," said Mrs. Zuckerman, "it seems to me you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider." "Ah, there you have it," said her husband. "The extraordinary spider is acting not out of altruism but out of a recognition…
What refugees pack for the voyage: Houthayfa is not bringing much to sea. First, he hasn’t a lot to take with him – most of his valuables were left behind in Syria. Second, he’s been told the smugglers discourage taking all but the essentials. On such crammed boats, keeping the weight down is vital to keeping the boat afloat. He’ll take a black jacket, to keep him warm during the nights. A big bottle…
I had the best time chatting with Celeste Ng about, well, everything. One more time: if you've not yet read Everything I Never Told You, I hope you do, and then I hope you talk to me about it. That novel meant so much to me, and it was a joy to get to talk with Celeste! Siobhan Phillips wrote this terrific essay for us on women and the history of gin. Mallory's…
The Bartender is doing all fun things in the next few days (seeing dearest friends! Family! Steaks! Wave Hill! Cloisters! More fun things!) and spirits are high. Also The Bartender's mom made the cookies pictured above (all made by her including the apricot and sour cherry jam) and The Bartender ate them ALL.
The Toast's literary pilgrimages archive can be found here. When you live across the ocean from where your favourite stories are set, Europe can seem nearly as imaginary as Middle Earth. London and Paris are real, but in my mind they exist as an amalgam of stories. Pure text doesn’t provide the sensory cues of visual media, so it demands that readers participate in creating the world of the story. It’s an intimate act of collaboration, a…
"You've reached Kirk Cameron. Leave me a message. God bless." "[singing] Show me that smile again (Oh, show me that smile) Don't waste another minute on your cryin' We're nowhere near the end (We're nowhere near) The best is ready to begin As long as we got each other We got the world spinnin' right in our hands Baby, you and me We gotta be The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreamin' As long as…
I've been thinking a bunch about this Sady Doyle piece, which is just chock-full of horrible stuff you might not want to know about, but also has some interesting nuance on being wrong and trying to fix things, and how best to facilitate that as a society and as a person:
Horovitz explained it pretty clearly, in the context of a song he wrote …
Felix Kent's previous work for The Toast can be found here. When I was applying to colleges a lifetime ago, my atheist father suggested I write my application essays about Sai Baba. He said there were lots of smart kids more or less like me applying to college -- this part of my life set me apart. It was good advice, perhaps. I didn’t follow it. Sathya Sai Baba, who died in 2011, was…
Everyone can feel good about this! Non-profiteers, lyric essayists, essayed lyricists, people who care about publishing but don't live in New York City, New Yorkers (you can afford to be magnanimous! You have all the stuff New York has in it!), everyone who's mad at Amazon, punching enthusiasts, 41-year-olds, Minnesotans, the scrappy, award winners, and so on: Graywolf Press, a nonprofit outfit in St. Paul, Minnesota...has been winning for a while. Over the past few…
You are poor, bright, and beautiful, but you never feel quite bright or beautiful enough because your best friend is brighter and beautifuller.
Your best friend has never forgiven you for being the first to experience menarche or being allowed to progress beyond primary school. Ever since, she’s been competing with you over just about everything.
As you know, I spend an immoderate amount of time trawling Wikimedia Commons for old-timey paintings what I can crack jokes on, so I've seen my fair share of imperfectly-rendered animals, but this one here has taken the majority of my cakes.
