On Friday, Merritt Tierce had a piece on the Paris Review’s site. She’ll be contributing stories about “the varieties of obscurity,” which sounds interesting. Her first is about a trip to Greece and the Museum of Wooden Sculptures. But it’s also about death and wanderlust. It’s short. You have no excuse not to read it.
Merritt is buddies with Ben Fountain. (Side note: the opening day of the Ang Lee movie based on his book, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, has been pushed back from November 11 to November 18.) Ben has been writing political essays for The Guardian. This is his eighth. It is titled “The Big Con: What Is Really at Stake in this US Election.” You’ve got at least one good excuse not to read it. Namely: ugh, the election. It has been too much. From both sides. And it’s a long essay. Like 4,500 words long. So that’s another excuse not to read it. But you should not make those excuses. Get to it.
