There was plenty of clicking and scrolling on our site last month, but readers showed these five pieces the most love overall.
(Full disclosure: M.K. Tod’s “The Top 10 Historical Fiction Authors” was
technically one of the top vote-getters yet again,
garnering just over eleventy-billion views. We’re keeping it off this list for
the sake of other pieces’ self-esteem.)
1. “The Mormon Excommunication of Fawn Brodie: Why Banishing the Famous Biographer Reverberates 65 Years Later” by James Reston Jr. We’re not sure what it is about this compelling two-year-old feature that suddenly has folks flocking to read it again, but we’re thrilled.
2. “Recommended Titles for Tweens through Teens.” We get that YA is a popular genre (thank you, The Hunger Games and Divergent). What we don’t get is why interest in this particular piece — posted in 2011, for god’s sake — exploded in April. Are you people still using dial-up or something?
3. Michael Causey’s review of The News: a User’s Manual by Alain de Botton. Does modern journalism — complete with its 24-hour news cycle and ratings-driven coverage — serve to educate or inflame? According to de Botton’s insightful new book, it’s mostly the latter. Sigh.
4. Our new events calendar. You like it! You really like it! And even better, you’re starting to use it to find the best literary happenings du jour. (Have one you want to see posted? Email it to [email protected]. It’s free!)
5. Karen Ward Kincer’s review of What Makes Olga Run? — The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Happier Lives by Bruce Grierson. Maybe it’s the warmer weather, the start of charity-run season, or the realization that your yoga pants have been lying to you. Whatever the reason, readers logged on in droves to learn about a nonagenarian who seems to have this fitness thing all figured out.
