Afternoon Tea (9/13/18)

Meet the Jewish Crime Writer Who Uncovered the True Story of Lolita

The Unjustly Overlooked Victorian Novelist Elizabeth Gaskell

Beauty or Beast? Iceland Quarrels Over an Invasive Plant

My Queer Chinese Comrades, in My Mother Tongue

Charles Minard’s Classic Infographic Shows the True Human Cost of Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia

Afternoon Tea (6/19/18)

I recommend reading this even if you don't care about the World Cup: I've Got Some Things to Say

Erdogan’s Plan to Raise a ‘Pious Generation’ Divides Parents in Turkey

In Conversation With Mary Beard: The Cambridge classicist on misogyny, power, and the future of women in the public sphere.

Feminize Your Canon: Olivia Manning

The Cheese Photographer We’re Obsessed With

Afternoon Tea (6/6/18)

Body Positivity Is a Scam

Hidden figures: the importance of remembering black classicists

Vladimir Nabokov Taught Me How to Be a Feminist

A Scrappy Makeover for a Tweedy Literary Fixture

A Journey Into the Righteous, Risk-Averse World of Faith-Based Films

Morning Coffee (5/9/18)

The New ICE Age: An Agency Unleashed

Civil rights groups sue HUD over fair housing rule

I love her: Pelosi on Democratic candidates who denounce her: ‘Just win, baby’

Eric Schneiderman Proves Why Male Allies Can't Get the Benefit of the Doubt

People think she’s a Parkland ‘crisis actor.’ It’s terrifying.

The #MeToo Poem That Brought Down Korea’s Most Revered Poet

Oh, GOOD: Christiane Amanpour named as Charlie Rose's official replacement

A search for native children who died on 'Outings' in Pa.

No thank you: Ryan Murphy Was Thinking About Making a Black Mirror-Style Show About #MeToo

Feeling Burned Out? Here Are 3 Things That Can Help

Morning Coffee (5/5/18)

WHOA: Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Wins At Connecticut Supreme Court, Conviction Vacated In 1975 Slaying Of Martha Moxley

Whoa! No Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018

Whoa. In a Reversal, Speaker Ryan say the House chaplain will remain in his post

Inside the Spectacular Implosion of Religion News Service

I AM VERY EXCITED FOR THIS: ‘The Catcher Was a Spy’ Trailer: Paul Rudd Goes From Baseball To Espionage

How a Common Interview Question Fuels the Gender Pay Gap (and How to Stop It)

Bursting the bubble: Spanish cava makers form breakaway group

Wow: Writer Picks Up Poker For Book Stunt, Wins So Much Money That The Book Is On Hold

Relic claimed to be bone from St Clement rescued from the bin

Humpback Whale Baby Boom Near Antarctica

Morning Coffee (5/3/18)

Whoa: Basque separatist group Eta announces dissolution

Update on the Hobby Lobby situation: United States Returns Thousands of Ancient Artifacts To Iraq (Honestly, I can't believe "Hobby Lobby smuggling Iraqi artifacts" is only like the 438th weirdest story we're trying to keep up with right now.)

Ahaha of course they do: Trump’s Legal Team Lacks Security Clearances Needed for Mueller Negotiations

Debunking Trump's Biggest Russia Lie

This is not great! "Virginia’s largest public university granted the conservative Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations."

Nobel literature prize may be postponed after reports that Swedish princess and others were harassed

Boy Scouts Changing Name To 'Scouts BSA,' As Girls Welcomed Into Program

I'm so curious to see how this eventually shakes out: MoviePass Brings Back Movie-A-Day Plan As CEO Shrugs Off Recent Financial Reports

Janelle Monáe doesn’t owe anyone details about her relationship with Tessa Thompson

Massive Cosmic Collision Challenges Theories of the Early Universe

Afternoon Tea (1/24/18)

This was so interesting and I cannot even IMAGINE having to deal with Waugh as a person: 'Brideshead' Revisited & Revised

Star Wars: Episode IX can fill Leia’s absence by embracing its forgotten queen

How a Misfit Group of Computer Geeks and English Majors Transformed Wall Street

I read her book in Italian last year, and this was a neat interview: Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing in Italian

Putting Ancient Recipes on the Plate

Afternoon Tea (11/16/17)

I'm pretty hit or miss with celebrity profiles but this one about Armie Hammer and Call Me By Your Name is QUITE SOMETHING: A Complicated Affair

Chinese Village Keeps Alive a Tradition of Indigo Dyeing

The Secret Feminist History of Brown Paper Bags

Joseph Conrad's Journey

The Lucrative Business of Prescribing Booze During Prohibition

Morning Coffee (10/8/17)

Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream

“He took the job and made it smaller”: how Rex Tillerson failed the State Department

The U.S. Has Never Been So Polarized On Guns

Some useful history and context here: Impeachment, American Style

'There were a lot of baby farms': Sri Lanka to act over adoption racket claims

The father who went undercover to find his son’s killers

How U.S. and German Art Experts Are Teaming Up to Solve Nazi-Era Mysteries

Found: The Earliest Known Work of Fiction by Ernest Hemingway

Ancient Egyptians Provided a Proper Burial to a Statue of a Revered Deity

Heh: A Few Reminders From Your Child’s Third Grade Class’s Room Moms

Morning Coffee (9/30/17)

Catalonia’s Independence Referendum: What’s at Stake?

Kurds Voted. So Is the Middle East Breaking Up?

Uh... U.S. ambassador breaks with policy: ‘I think the settlements are part of Israel’

Well this was... barely a blip: Terrorists just tried to assassinate Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Afghanistan

Trump Keeps Talking About a ‘Hospitalized’ Senator That Doesn’t Exist

Also: Trump Duped by Old Footage of Iranian Missile Test

Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted

Whoa: 'Chemical surgery' used to mend harmful mutations in human embryos

After Outcry, Irish Government Buys Yeats’s Artifacts

Ball Gowns, Lace Ruffs and Fairy Wings: Theater History for Sale

Afternoon Tea (9/29/17)

Such a good, interesting read: This island is not for sale: how Eigg fought back

Playing Indian: How a fight over Native American symbolism in Oregon brought to light the conflict at America's core.

This about new translations of the Iliad is fascinating: The Art of Wrath

The Banned 1910s Magazine That Started a Feminist Movement in Japan

A Chorus of Mazel Tovs in Uganda

Morning Coffee (6/30/17)

Time for some happy Friday links!

Ooh, today's Victor Hugo Google doodle is pretty.

I love this: Books & Mortar: A Day in the Life of Judy Blume, Bookseller

Record-breaking Harry Potters!! (Harries Potter?)

Want to Transcribe Rare Magical Manuscripts on Your Lunch Break? WHO DOESN'T?

The Onion but TOO REAL: Lonely Elementary Schooler Already Crushing Library’s Summer Reading Program

Now I'm a bit disappointed I'm not flying Delta until August and so will miss cover model Justin Trudeau!

I bet your Friday needs The Many Amazing Hats of Royal Ascot.

Huh: This Anti-Sand Towel Is a Must for Your Next Beach Trip

Let's ogle some gorgeous libraries.

COCKTAIL TIME: 16 Rosé Cocktails You'll Be Obsessed With This Summer

Afternoon Tea (6/19/17)

Paradise Lost: The Other Side of Reality TV

Fun! These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books

Watching the [Hotel] Detectives

The ancient mystery of St Hilda's 'snake stones': what do ammonites really look like?

14 Curious Telegrams from (and to) Famous Writers (Some of these aren't exactly CURIOUS, but they're interesting!)

Afternoon Tea (6/9/17)

Madame Bovary’s Wedding Cake

Fascinating trajectory: The Gospel According to Glennon

Cheap Thrills, Private Dicks, and Desperate Dames From the Heyday of Pulp Fiction

The Mysteries of a Rare, 18th-Century Native American Map

Why St Nicholas works wonders for Russians

Afternoon Tea (6/7/17)

This is wild: How D-Day code words ended up in British crossword puzzles

I love this: The Mathematical Poet: Exploring Edgar Allan Poe’s Logical Imagination

The Mummies’ Medical Secrets? They’re Perfectly Preserved

To Save Its Cliffside Towns, Italy Revives the Art of Terracing

The Delightful English Tradition of Beating Parish Boundaries With Sticks

Afternoon Tea (6/1/17)

During Ramadan, Home Cooks Shine

A Deep Dive into Goodreads’ Top 100 Mysteries & Thrillers

Edith Wharton Recruited the World’s Greatest Artists to Raise Money for WWI Refugees

The Feuds of Diana Trilling

The forgotten history of how ancient Zoroastrians helped create the old Silk Route

Morning Coffee (6/1/17)

I couldn't pick a quote because this whole thing is amazing and heartbreaking and inspiring: Hillary Clinton Is Furious. And Resigned. And Funny. And Worried.

Source: Comey to testify publicly about Trump confrontations

"Laughter erupted in the room, but it is impossible to report here at this time whether Spicer was smiling or actually meant what he said, literally. That’s because the White House decided to hold the press briefings with cameras turned off."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mike Flynn’s Firm Was Paid to Make a Pro-Erdogan Propaganda Film While He Advised Trump

You don't say: China Sees an Opening in Rift Between Trump and Germany

HEROES: These 8th-graders from New Jersey refused to be photographed with Paul Ryan

Someone complained to the mayor of Austin (!!) about the Alamo's women-only Wonder Women screenings and his response is great.

Ooh! A Lost Edith Wharton Play Emerges from Scholarly Sleuthing

Mummy DNA shows that the ancients don’t have much in common with modern Egyptians

Earth May Once Have Been a Donut-Shaped Mass of Vaporized Rock Called a Synestia

Morning Coffee (2/13/17)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

This is terrifying: Turmoil at the National Security Council, From the Top Down

Trump Promised White Supremacy. Now He’s Delivering It.

This has been a highlight of Twitter recently: Chelsea Clinton finally finds her political voice — and it’s edgy

Of... course: Steve Bannon Carries Battles to Another Influential Hub: The Vatican

Right-Wing Hoteliers in Japan Anger China With Radical Historical Views

How Donald Trump Made The Cable News Chyron Operator A Washington Power Player

This is very interesting: Faultlines, black holes and glaciers: mapping uncharted territories

The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

So cool: Metropolitan Museum of Art Places 375,000 Works Under Creative Commons

Great Literature Is Surprisingly Arithmetic

Succession in the Silk Roads

Morning Coffee (12/25/16)

(I'm traveling, so this post was written in advance and does not take into account whatever additional horrors have recently been unleashed upon the world.)

Merry Christmas!

Pope’s New Nativity Scene Raises Awareness of Worldwide Refugee Crisis

Whoa: Take a Virtual Tour of One of the World's Largest Gingerbread Cities

What's it like to race a reindeer?

Ooh, let's look at some of this year's holiday windows.

Christmas chaos in literature, from Emma to Adrian Mole

For Teddy Roosevelt's Son, Rebelling Meant Sneaking Christmas Trees Into the White House

How the ‘War on Christmas’ Controversy Was Created

The Long, Rich, Boozy History of Eggnog

Heh, Zillow made a listing for Santa's house.

In Albuquerque they make snowmen out of tumbleweeds.

‘A good preparation for Christmas’: Revolution and Augustan Yuletides

10 Harry Potter Recipes That Will Make Your Holidays Magical

Morning Coffee (12/19/16)

Me elsewhere: Your TV news roundup for the week.

This is a big deal: Obama's UN Envoy Refers To Armenian Genocide

An American “redemption”? Trumpism fits a pattern of backlash against social progress.

Reporter's Notebook: What It Was Like As A Muslim To Cover The Election

Civil Rights Déjà Vu, Only Worse

Indians, Slaves, and Mass Murder: The Hidden History

Asking Ma about life in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution.

A super white Christmas: The Hallmark Channel gives us TV’s most homogeneous view of the holiday

Wreath Witherspoon. WREATH WITHERSPOON. Amazing.

Inside Quebec’s Great, Multi-Million-Dollar Maple-Syrup Heist

The Czech Pastry That Took Texas By Storm, And Keeps Gaining Strength

On Swift