You can have a truly amazing novel about to come out that might change the course of American literature for the next half-century, but does it have a Gary Shteyngart blurb on the the cover? That’s really all that matters. The Shteyngart blurb has become almost a seal of approval that, while comical in the sheer amount of books he’s actually blurbed, are actually really good ways to tell if you’re going to like a book or not. Inspired by […]
“The Year of the Gadlfy” Book Trailer Gets Just About Everybody Involved
Jennifer Miller’s book trailer for The Year of the Gadfly has everything: Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, Dan Rather, Walter Isaacson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, midgets wrestling in a kiddie pool filled with red jello, tweakers dressed up like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Gary Shteyngart.
Morning Bites: Anti-Putin punk, Malick’s muse, On Englander, fantasy illustrators, and more
“They were dressed in summery short dresses and tights, but brightly colored balaclavas masked their faces. Dancing frantically to keep warm, they launched into a song that could be delicately titled “Putin Got Scared,” though the lyrics in Russian were ruder than that.” – Pussy Riot, our new favorite band on the planet, gets profiled by NPR. Gary Shteyngart, Douglas Rushkoff, and a bunch of other smart folks weigh in on Facebook $5 billion dollar IPO at Motherboard. At Tablet: Adam […]
Morning Bites: Gary Shteyngart’s blurbs, Sheila Heti talks to Didion, the bones of Cervantes, and more
So many jokes about being quixotic: searching for the bones of Cervantes. What does Lord Grantham’s Downton Abbey family have in common with Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof? The collected blurbs of Gart Shteyngart. Sheila Heti talks to Joan Didion in the latest issue of The Believer. There’s an exclusive excerpt up now. Hannah Arendt: not the biggest fan of Israel. Lana Del Ray was better in Sixteen Candles than she was on this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Follow […]
Morning Bites: Thatcher movie, Bill O’Reilly’s still an idiot, nightcaps, short story problems, and more
Meryl Streep, Margaret Thatcher, and Madness (the band) in one trailer. Here’s a total shocker for you: A Fox News host wrote a book and it’s riddled with factual errors. The libraries of Junot Díaz, James Wood, Gary Shteyngart, and others. Is there a problem with short stories? Josh Spilker thinks there might be, and he discusses it at Impose. (Hint: Yelp) If you’re looking for the rules of an honorable nightcap, look no further. Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Twitter, Facebook, and […]
Morning Bites: Writers for Occupy Oakland, Edith Wharton, Bosworth’s e-chap, Weather Underground, Chip Kidd,
Dave Eggers, Michael Pollan, and other writers denounce the City of Oakland’s response to the Occupy protests. Professor Edith Wharton teaches class at HTML Giant. Mel Bosworth and Christy Crutchfield have a new e-chapbook out on Deckfight called The Five Lost Senses of Carl. Chip Kidd is going to write a Batman graphic novel. Gary Shteyngart talks to The Atlantic. So on that movie Anonymous about William Shakespeare… A 1976 documentary on the Weather Underground. Women from the 1930s dressed like mythological […]
“Day of the Oprichnik” Wins Best Book Cover of 2011 in First Month of the Year
Posted by Jason Diamond I was excited to read this before it arrived at my desk yesterday, but the cover art for Vladimir Sorokin’s Day of the Oprichnik (out March 22nd on Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is so incredibly sweet, that it seemed appropriate to give out the award this prematurely. Does this beat out the prior #1 best example of Russian book cover featuring a bear?
Pictures of 20 Under 40 People Living it up at 92Y Tribeca
Posted by Jason Diamond David Bezmozgis, Nell Freudenberger, Rivka Galchen, Karen Russell, Gary Shteyngart and Wells Tower with Deborah Treisman read at 92Y Tribeca the other night. Good times were had, ideas for funny new book trailers were probably thought up, and pictures were indeed taken and saved at the 92Y Flickr.