Amy Reading

1 month ago | fivebooks.com | Amy Reading |Jane Kamensky |Cynthia Carr |Jean Strouse

Let me begin by remarking on what a wonderfully varied shortlist you have settled upon this year. Did you notice any trends among the submissions? There are two very obvious trends. The first is that all the authors identify as women, and the second is that four out of five biographical subjects identified as women. I think that’s the best way to phrase it—Candy Darling, one of the biographical subjects, was born a man, but her ardent desire was to be a woman, and she worked hard at transitioning.

Nov 14, 2024 | wsj.com | Amy Reading

The Picture of Dorian GrayBy Oscar Wilde (1890) $13.75/Week $1.75/Week Includes unlimited access to The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and Investor’s Business Daily $9.75/Week $1/Week Includes unlimited digital access to WSJ's unrivaled journalism. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Oct 9, 2024 | electricliterature.com | A. Scott Berg |Amy Reading

Do you scrutinize the acknowledgements pages of the books you love? Do you peer between the lines to build a story in your mind of how those books were made? We’ve demolished the myth of the lone romantic genius madly scribbling in a garret until he is discovered and published to startling acclaim, but a new understanding hasn’t fully taken its place. Writers are often loath to talk about money and slow to credit the role of institutions in their artistic career. Enter the editors.

Sep 2, 2024 | lithub.com | Amy Reading

Katharine S. White wanted to remain invisible. She had a horror of seeming egotistical or self-promoting, but even more than that, she believed her work belonged in the background. Her husband, E.B. White, was the writer whose beloved books caused readers to flood their Maine farmhouse with tidal waves of letters. Her work, as the editor of The New Yorker, was meant to be undetectable, and never struck her as artistic, creative, or worthy of scrutiny.

Apr 28, 2024 | the-sun.com | Amy Reading

THEIR faces were a picture when these ­art fans spotted their likenesses in galleries and realised life truly does imitate art. Ross Duffin found his bearded double clad in armour in a Jan van Bijlert oil in a museum in Pasadena, California. Many of the images have now gone viral on social media. The doppelgangers are ­obviously keen on frame and fortune . . . Meanwhile, celebrity lookalikes can rake in a fortune from their famous face.