The work of Croatian designer Mihajlo Arsovski at Imprint. Sasha Frere-Jones rounds up his favorite Best Of lists. Rosie Schaap has the remedy to help you shake off the shackles of your Jan. 1st hangover. The guy who plays Sherlock Holmes on the BBC really has it hard being a rich guy. The Portland Mercury‘s list of the best local books of 2011 includes a number of books we also enjoyed over here, and still more that we’re hoping t0 read […]
Morning Bites: Nicholson Baker’s style, helping The Help, Berlin books, Chelsea Wolfe, and more
News today includes helping out the book (and movie) The Help, Soviet-era art, AC/DC making vino, Nicholson Baker’s words, and more.
Weekend Bites: 21st Century Sherlock, Paul Auster Reviewed, Franco as Bruce Nauman and More
At The Daily Beast: The 21st Century Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery. At The New York Times: The Paris Review opens up it’s archives. At Telegraph: Paul Auster’s Sunset park is reviewed: “While there are moments of intensity, beauty even, these are fleeting, bright flashes, like silver fish in a grey and weltering sea.” At Flavorwire: Citing that James Franco’s “Cultural Ubiquity Tour must roll on,” a video of the actor, writer, student in sixteen MFA programs, as Bruce Nauman. At […]
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: The Dantean inferno of Brooklyn, Dickens Christmas Bummer, Granta Picks, Todd P in Mexico, Best Metal, and More
I loved this Gawker quote about the “ironic trailer park” they are building in Bushwick: “Every year they add a new level to the Dantean inferno that is artistic living in Brooklyn.” Lit. “What a wonderful thing it is, that such a great success should occasion me such intolerable anxiety and disappointment!” Charles Dickens on A Christmas Carol. The Guardian discusses why the book didn’t give the writer a surplus of holiday cash. Taschen will bring you back to the […]
Bites: Natalie Portman Likes Jonathan Safran Foer’s Book, NY Times Likes Electric Literature, Ames Kvetching on Twitter, The Watson Twins, and more
Natalie Portman went vegan thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals. She writes about it for Huff Po. Makes the confusing statement, “I don’t believe in rape, but if it’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it.” Lit. New York Times give mad props to Electric Literature. A Sherlock Holmes handbook. Maybe a good gift for Robert Downey Jr.? (Thanks Mental Floss) Rick Moody and a parkway in Connecticut. Jonathan Ames kvetches on […]
Sherlock Holmes: Nearly Regal or Downright Raunchy?
By Willa A. Cmiel Sherlock Holmes’ final adventure, The Valley of Fear, is being republished. While Victorian romances are of late being reimagined with either zombies or flowery covers, Holmes gets pulp-y, and totally sexed up. The goal is to make the book look as far from a “classic” as possible, as the label is apt to repel certain readers who might otherwise be totally into it. In other words, publisher Hard Case Crime is presenting something ‘good for you’ […]