list — Blog — West 10th

Welcome back erryone. I'm Christina, and I sincerely hope you all spent as much time in bed this break as I did. I'm new here, and so is the West 10th Twitter-- how exciting! You should follow us immediately, before we blow up. What we're hoping to do via "social media" (shudder) is create a little window that will at the very least introduce you guys to the nice literary community that exists over the internets. If you're like me, a lot of your IRL friends do not classify themselves as "writers"...and a few of them might not even read. You might have a little circle of book club friends, but look at you, are you really in a book club? It's true-- people like us, they doooo exist! And they've got smart and helpful things for you to read and think about. It helps when you know other people are struggling the same way you are.Since all I read this break was Columbine by Dave Cullen and one-half of In Cold Blood (sorry, on a kick here), I didn't want to start off my first blog with a sad touchy violent review. So instead, in !!!celebration!!! of all the tweets and retweets in our near future, I've put together a list of websites I as a reader/writer/kollege student have found to be the most helpful, the most entertaining, and/or the most fun. RESPOND! BE INTERACTIVE! by posting your favorite lit-themed websites. And do browse these-- I promise my taste is OK.Advice to Writers- Really, really, really fantastic collection to browse through when you feel like your work isn't %!#&ing working. Cheesy quotes=very rare.Electric Lit - This Brooklyn-based literary magazine's blog is surprisingly entertaining, not pretentious, and informative about readings and release parties that go on in the NY/BK area. Also, I like whoever tweets for them-- they're funny.The Millions- They're big on lists, which are always helpful/nice to read in the morning with yo coffee. Always new essays, features, and reviews to read, too.Book Bench- The New Yorker book blog. Doing their thang.Book Forum- I've been introduced to a few new writers via articles from their website-- definitely something to check out.Thought Catalog- Nope. Not a literary site. Just a well-organized blog where people can share their funny/cute/gross thoughts about pop culture and ex-everythings. They're all short, and they're all good. Literally just spent an hour on here today.Don't forget to FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! And plz, go gentle into this spring semester. CD

Hey everyone.I'm sure we're all super excited and happy that Fall semester is almost over. Break is coming! Unfortunately, we still have to live through the agony of final exams, which are coming up soon. That, however, doesn't mean we can't start planning for our break now. Some of you will probably travel to great places while others won't be able to. For those of you who won't be traveling, you can still visit different places (and worlds; isn't that great?) by reading books. Yes, we have heard that many times but it is very true, is it not?I thought it would be a good idea to create a list of recommended books. This will help those of us who aren't sure on what to read at least have a place to start.So, what books do you all plan on reading during Winter break? If you're too busy for books, what books have you read that you would recommend? It would be great if you would include the author of the book and a small description of what the book is about.