“for the first four albums, you couldn’t understand much of what Michael Stipe was saying.” – Dave Eggers discusses the iconic (and now broken up) R.E.M. at Salon. Dean Wareham, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, and Bob Mould also share their thoughts.
September 27th: Perfect Day Publishing & Vol 1 Brooklyn present…
Tuesday night we’re presenting a night of readings with our friends from Oregon, Perfect Day Publishing, at our favorite used bookstore in all of Williamsburg. Perfect Day Publishing & Vol 1 Brooklyn present: Lisa Wells [Yeah. No. Totally.] Deenah Vollmer [New Yorker contributor] Scott McClanahan [Stories, Stories II, Stories V!] Julia Jackson [Electric Literature] Sept 27. FREE at BookThugNation 100 North 3rd Street RSVP here
Nick Cave is 54 today
Posted by Jason Diamond There was this issue of Mojo from about ten years ago, where the magazine peeks into Nick Cave’s writing room to see what he has scattered around for inspiration. One of the things displayed was a suitcase, with a caption below it that had Cave saying something along the lines of the suitcase used to belong to Leonard Cohen, that Cave had bought it in an auction, and his only regret was that he didn’t find […]
Morning Bites: Agatha Christie goes surfing, Frank Sinatra talking crosswords, last words, Museum Day, and more
Agatha Christie’s diaries, letters, and photos from her days spent surfing are to be released in a book. We’re hoping that a Masterpiece Theater mini-series based on the book will promptly follow. Frank Sinatra writes a letter to a former New York Times crossword editor. How Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 changed one man’s life. The last words of writers from Mark Twain to Jane Austen. Is The Onion moving to Chicago from NYC? This Saturday is Museum Day. The Smithsonian lists […]
Vauxhall and I
Posted by Jason Diamond History Today reviews a new book on the history of London’s famous Vauxhall Gardens, and it makes us want to go sip tea, and listen to The Kinks all day long.
Happy Bill Murray/Leonard Cohen/Stephen King Day
Posted by Jason Diamond Not only do Leonard Cohen, Bill Murray, and Stephen King all celebrate birthdays today, but so do H.G. Wells, Chuck Jones, and Dave Coulier. That’s pretty much everybody that matters, and I think we should get a day off because of it.
Morning Bites: Arthur Conan Doyle, Gabriel García Márquez in Iran, J. Edgar, parrot sketches, and more
At The Paris Review: Michael Dirda reflects on a childhood love of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Gabriel García Márquez is big in Tehran. “I have never before come upon a book at once as loving and as devastating as The Mirador by Élisabeth Gille, the daughter of Irène Némirovsky.” – Ruth Franklin at The New Republic. The preview for the J. Edgar Hoover film starring Leonardo DiCaprio (directed by Clint Eastwood) is up. We’re officially psyched. (Anybody know who’s doing […]
24 hour Christopher Bollen party
Posted by Jason Diamond In the last 24 hours Christopher Bollen, author of the book Lightning People, has seen a piece about his love for Agatha Christie go up at Three Guys One Book, and then the publishing of his conversation with Eleanor Friedberger at Largehearted Boy. Lesson learned from all this awesomeness: we should all be paying more attention to Christopher Bollen.