“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: Polish Crime Covers, Lit in the 00’s, David Foster Wallace, Pacino as Shylock, and More
Over at The Rumpus, we learn that Poland just knows how to do sweet cover art for their crime novels. At New York Magazine, Sam Anderson rips into the 00’s. Appearances by David Foster Wallace, Junot Díaz. Bolaño, Eggers, P.G. Wodehouse, Borges, and Wilde. A nod to N+1, a short drive into Kindle territory, and then ends by again talking about the same book that started him on the whole conversation: Infinite Jest. Most of the book’s action […]
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 […]
Bites: So Many Wild Things, Gigantic Interviewed, Mr. Rochester is Dreamy, Nobels for the Small Press, 1989, Dirty Projectors at NYer Fest, and more
Wild Things: It’s Released! Did you know?? Pitchfork interviews Spike Jonze. We’ve All Been Wondering Lately about “What Makes a Children’s Classic.”(NYT Arts Beat) Ohmahgawd–Wild Things, Wild Things, Wild Things. Lit. This essay on the importance of the humanities is outstanding.(Harper’s) Gigantic is interviewed by Fictionaut. “But, reader, I loved him.” On Charlotte Brontë’s Mr. Rochester as the most romantic character in literature. Oh, yes. Reading!: the demand of literature From last week, The Millions on Lit’s Nobel Prize and […]
Bites: Book Review Highlights, Kakutani Two-Step, Required Reading, the Millennials, and Why Our Media is Getting Scolded
Celebrated artist of the female form, Peter Paul Rubens, was “a man of controlled appetites, with a modest disposition and a reputation for tact and discretion.” He was also a diplomat, spy, and peace-maker, according to Mark Lamster’s new book “Master of Shadows.” Other Book Review Highlights: A history, slightly obsessive, of Strunk & White’s little style book.(NYT) Michael Chabon’s new essays: “First Person Masculine”?(NYT) Has anyone else noticed that James Joyce has been tryin’ to change a lot of […]
Dusting Off: The Whore of Mensa
Ah, Woody in 1974. Dare I label that time in his career “Prime Wood”? No? Alright. Whatever the case, fresh into his forties, and in the best days of being a middle-aged-Jewish-Manhattanite, Mr. Allen wrote a piece for his beloved city’s hometown bible, the New Yorker, about one of his favorite subjects: intellectuals. In this case he would rather focus on a ring of brainy call girls with whom he could discuss Melville instead of the windbags who stand in […]
Bites: Books on Abraham, Chuck Klosterman on the Fab 4, bike shares, Genesis P-Orridge, and more
Lit. The New York Review of Books has a stack of books on our 16th President Daniel Steel and “That Madea Guy” both make the list of “15 Rich-Ass Authors I’ve Suddenly Decided to Like“. (Thanks HTMLGIANT) The Desk Set asks: “Why should we, librarians and friends of libraries, care about the state of the humanities?” JK Rowling getting a comic book Bikes Copenhagen Bike Share Competition. (Thanks Cool Hunting) Music – Art Chuck Klosterman reviews the recently remastered Beatles albums […]
Holly Golightly is a Callgirl
In response to a new West End, London production of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which portrays iconic Holly Golightly as a prostitute, straight up and unambiguously, Book Bench has posted part of a 1968 Playboy interview with Truman Capote on the subject. Capote: Holly Golightly was not precisely a callgirl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps […]