Thanks to Web sites like Longform.org and Longreads.com , the Twitter hashtag #longreads , and thepopularity of mobile apps like Instapaper and ReadItLater, it’s easier thanever to find and celebrate excellent, deeply-reported, expansive pieces ofnonfiction writing.
But who’s calling readers’ attention to the beautifully briefand the perfectly pithy? Last week, Slate inaugurated a new weeklyfeature, #Shortreads. Every Friday, we’ll pick our favorite piece of writing fromthe prior week that has fewer than 1,000 words.
This week’s #Shortreadsselection:
”
My Astounding and Yet Not at All Unusual Day in Culture
,” David Orr’s send-up in the Awl
of the
Paris Review
‘s blog series ”
The Culture Diaries
,” in which classy, sophisticated types share what they’ve been reading, watching, and listening to. Apparently Orr, poetry columnist for the
New York Times Book Review
, spends most of his day having perfunctory sex and sending inappropriate text messages. (Lorin Stein, editor of
The Paris Review
—
dubbed mrfancyshirts by Orr
—
took the ribbing in stride
.)
Got a nomination for next week? Leave it in the comments, email us at browbeatslate@gmail.com, ortweet a link with the hashtag #shortreads.
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