A great website for writing on culture & literature
Really much more than a blog, The Millions is a far-reaching website featuring essays, reviews, and commentary on contemporary and classic literature. It is one of the most ambitious and valuable resources for those who don’t see a necessary conflict between the digital and literary cultures.
Boasting a fresh new design, The Millions home page is now a dynamic entry point with frequently-updated, twitter-length “Curiosities” and a steady stream of work by contributors–of which there are many (though not yet “millions”).
Editor C. Max Magee has done a great job assembling a team of talented writers (both regulars and guests). Whether reviewing an individual book, or opining on broad trends, the contributors keep things lively and interesting. Take, for instance, Lydia Kiesling’s essay on how even an ardent book-lover can lose her reading appetite after too many punishingly unpleasant novels.
Digging deeper into the site, there’s a valuable index page of all book reviews published at The Millions. The range is impressive: new looks at enduring classics, smart takes on well-known current books, and explorations of more obscure, off-center titles. They have an ongoing series of reviews/essays on the books enshrined in Random House’s Modern Library. They also review music in a Torch Ballads & Jukebox Music section. The Millions also publishes reporting on cultural events like the PEN World Voices conference.
In addition to the old-fashioned click-and-read-on-the-web style, you can experience The Millions in Kindle format by subscribing for a mere 99 cents/month. They have also sliced and diced their RSS feeds to you can track specific sections and columns.
As newspapers and other traditional book review venues shrivel, it looks like bloggers and online critics are going to have to pick up the slack. If these new media projects look and read like The Millions, literate culture has a bright future.
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