“We Tolstoy virgins know that the bearded one justly perches near the top of our lifelong reading list, yet somehow the right time is never quite right to rise to the occasion.” Here’s to you, Stephen Emms of the Guardian, for not only hipping me to this wonderful phrase that by all means should not exist, but also reminding me that there was a film version of Anna Karenina starring Gretta Garbo put out in the 30’s.
Bites: Tolstoy Investigation, Misfit Pics, Hemingway Cat Poop, Harry Smith, and More
“The murder of Leo Tolstoy: A forensic investigation” at Harpers. Ben Greenman discusses Sly and the Family Stone, and their brief flirtation with being French. Eerie Von from Samhain and Danzig has a book of photography out. You can buy fake cat poop at the Ernest Hemingway museum. The New Yorker gives us a preview of albums coming out in 2010. A new decade just started and already we are talking about the publishing industry in 2020. A book on […]
Bites: Leo Tolstoy in Chechnya, American Translations, Loving Zadie Smith, and More
Chechnya loves Leo Tolstoy. PRI on the evolution of Sherlock Holmes. James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins is a fan of Christopher Hitchens. The Millions review Richard Rushfield’s Don’t Follow me I’m Lost. The Faster Times breaks down where America is translating from. Nathan Heller on Zadie Smith: both an envy object and a kind of hero WFMU gives us their top ten magazines that folded in 2009 list. Termites making it hard for a Brooklyn library to open. A […]
Bites: Willy Loman Gets Some Respect, Gladwell Writes a Letter, Chomsky’s Eye, Beth Ditto as a Hero, Oprah Fucks Over the Book Industry, and More
“He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being”. Actually Linda Loman, I think in regards to your husband, it’s the other way around. According to this list, your husband Willy stands alongside The Wandering Jew, Betty Boop, and Shylock as the 100 most influential people who never lived. Lit. Gore Vidal rips William F. Buckley. No response from Buckley, because he’s dead. Leo Tolstoy is also dead. Today is the anniversary of him dying. Malcolm […]