On the Shelf

Mark Twain.

A study finds that reading fiction may improve empathy.

Carol Ann Duffy: “Poems are a form of texting.”

The Man-Booker shortlist is announced. Herewith, a cheat sheet.

Philip Schultz: “[My tutor] worked with me to try to teach me how to read, without any success at all. And one day out of frustration asked me what I thought I was going to do in life if I couldn’t read. And surprising both of us, I said I wanted to be a writer. And he laughed.”

Mark Twain’s charming love letter.

On bookshelf aesthetics.

Feral is having a moment.

A new Wuthering Heights adaptation is “caked in grime and damp with saliva.” Oh, and “salted with profanity.”

Ten years on, reading 9/11.

Profanisaurus? There’s an app for that.

George R. R. Martin, fanboy.

Haunting images of America’s asylums.