WATCH: Amanda Palmer On 'F*cked Up' Reaction To Her Boston Bombing Poem

May 16, 2013 Subscribe · Forward WATCH: Amanda Palmer On 'F*cked Up' Reaction To Her Boston Bombing Poem An emotional Amanda Palmer took the stage last week at Grub Street's Muse and Marketplace Conference as part of the NEA-funded Publish it Forward series. Click here to watch the video, exclusively on HuffPost Books  Continue reading... PHOTOS: What Famous Authors Wrote In Their Books Week's Hottest Reads Ray Bradbury's Favorite Bookshop 12 Things Your Pets Are Secretly Thinking WATCH: People Who Say They've Read 'Great Gatsby' Attempt To Explain It WATCH: Colbert Tells Dan Brown 'Your Books Fill Me With Rage' IMAGES: What Happens If You Flip The Gender Of Book Covers? WRITER WEDNESDAY: Tips For Dealing With Literary Agents 8 Horrible Things About Being In Your 20s IMAGES: What Happens If You Flip The Gender Of Book Covers? 12 Things Your Pets Are Secretly Thinking EVAN GOTTLIEB The Power of Plot Look up any review of Brown's fiction, scan it for descriptions of his prose, and you'll likely find the adjectives "clunky" and "repetitive" playing central roles. What redeems Brown's novels -- or, at least, compels readers to buy and read them? Continue reading... JOHN PAUL ROLLERT Empathy, Gatsby, and the Great American Tragedy Hollywood adaptations of great novels tend to unnerve devoted readers. The effort seems hubristic and slightly profane, akin to painting a second Sistine Chapel or adding a chorus to King Lear. Perfection, by definition, can't be improved upon, and it seems suspect even to try. Continue reading... ROBERT J. ELISBERG Plimpton! A Life Really Well-Lived George Plimpton lived a life like James Thurber's dreamer, Walter Mitty, except he didn't dream about doing any exciting job in the world. He did the job. And then wrote about it. Continue reading... JOHN J. HEALEY Finnegans Wake in the Bronx I remember looking at it out of curiosity, knowing nothing at all about Joyce, when I was eight or nine-years-old. It stood out from the other books adorned with more romantic covers and titles. And I remember leafing through it, lying on the floor, and finding it absolutely nonsensical. Continue reading... ADAM GRANT Does Trying to Be Happy Make Us Unhappy? What if searching for happiness actually prevents us from finding it? There's reason to believe that the quest for happiness might be a recipe for misery. Continue reading... Received this from a friend? Sign up for alerts from The Huffington Post here. Unsubscribe here. Huffington Post, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003