Michael Chabon is interviewed at Jacket Copy on fatherhood and the writing process:
“I think in a way, that’s sort of what you’re engaged in doing as a writer, too. You come into this inheritance of things that have been done and the ways in which they have been done, and people who influence you sort of pass along what they think is important, and what they think you need to know how to do. But over time you begin to make changes, what you think are improvements or alterations, because you like the way it comes out better. In that sense, there’s less a question of rejecting or accepting the past, less an anxiety of influence kind of thing, than there is an evolution of your own culinary style as applied to language and storytelling.”
Lit.
- Granta‘s got a new editor.
- For Gawker Book Club (!!), Stephen Elliot discusses The Adderall Diaries, moderated by James Frey on an open forum. Join in the discussion, perhaps?
- Is former Saved By the Bell star, Dustin Diamond, the next Hemingway? He’s not, but The Daily Beast wonders anyway if you can differentiate the two.
- HTMLGiant’s Literary Doppelgangers: Nietzsche’s moustache and bison.
- Ten Similarities Between Grand Theft Auto and Inherent Vice include “Corny, Corny, Corny Jokes” and an “incoherent plot you don’t really care about because it is so much fun.”
Film
- Next to contribute to the widely loved children’s book-turned-big-budget-movie trend is Wes Anderson with Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Food
- In search of real chocolate: The Smart Set’s Meg Favreau mourns the FDA’s lack of proper specifications for the wondrous food — and provides a “Screw you Hershey’s! Cup” recipe if you’re interested.
Politics
- “We simply disagree that he has done nothing,” says the Nobel committee on Obama‘s controversial Peace Prize triumph.
- Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others currently being held at Guantanamo Bay may soon be flown to a courthouse blocks from Ground Zero to face trials.