Bites: Rebecca Solnit On “Elite Panic,” Penguin Classics Go Dopey, Truman Peyote the Band, and More

Essays are great. The talented Rebecca Solnit (above) discusses “elite panic,” among other things, in an an interview at BOMB Magazine. “Zadie Smith on the rise of the essay.“ The kind of wishy-washy title of Bob Thompson’s piece in The American Scholar, “Writing About Writers,” does not give it due justice. Please read. Lit. Thinking of gifting a newfangled, bougey little reading device called the Nook? Well, you’re outta luck. Yep, you may have to settle for the Kindle, which […]

Continue Reading

Bites: PEN’s Spelling Bee, Fitzgerald’s Taxes, Whitman’s Jeans, Obama the Comic, France Hates Scientology, and more

Last night at Le Poisson Rouge, some of New York’s biggest writers got together for a spelling bee to benefit PEN American center’s literary journal, PEN America and the release of their eleventh issue, “Make Believe.” Lit. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tax returns.(Thanks, The Rumpus) Whoa, another e-reader from Barnes & Noble?  I’m totally confused. Today, we’re tackling e-readers and book reading, I guess.  First, Book Bench with Bruce McCalls’ new book Fifty Things to do with a Book (Now that […]

Continue Reading

Bites: Media Battles (Ever-Present), Franco’s Face, Humility as ‘Sin,’ Tony Judt, and the Bad News For Big Business

New Media, Old Media, and E-readers Barnes and Noble’s e-reader, the Nook, looks promising as  Kindle competitor (and book sharing device!). The Rumpus’ account of last week’s New Yorker Festival is titled “James Franco’s Face.” Jacket Copy suggests that because their paper gave Le Clézio’s Désert a bad review, that the Nobel Prize in Literature is becoming “esoteric” and “wrong-headed.” Ugh, close-minded print newspaper. And now to take back the above statement about print media back with Harper’s lovely “Blake–To […]

Continue Reading