Some thoughts on Bill Fox.
Literary Schwag: The Believer wants you!
The Paris Review gave you a beach towel to subscribe, now The Believer wants to give you a beach blanket sized poster of Charles Burns’ drawn portraits if you subscribe or renew using promo code BP04. Aside from the fact that The Believer is always one of our favorite reads, do you understand how attractive these things will make your apartment look? Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Twitter, Facebook, and our Tumblr.
A year of favorites: Jason’s 2011 Best Of list
Posted by Jason Diamond I’ve written and read my share of year-end lists, and I’m at the point now where I’m not totally sure what sort of purpose they serve, but I continue to read and write them anyway. I’m not trying to sound jaded about peoples roundups of the year that was, in fact I rather like them and really enjoy doing my own. I guess my issue tends to be more of the way you’ve got to dig […]
If Britpop ran the publishing industry…
Posted by Jason Diamond Jarvis Cocker becoming an editor at Faber & Faber is a step in the right direction, but these are my dream scenarios if Britpoppers from the 1990s ran the publishing industry. 1. Penguin would hire Morrissey to be in charge of design of the Classics imprint. They’re already going to be giving him bags of cash to write his memoirs, why not put Moz in charge of getting things back to the level that Germano Facetti […]
Morning Bites: Keith Moon, Darin Strauss on faith, Bernard-Henri Lévy feeling good, and more
Today would have been the 65th birthday of Keith Moon. He was the greatest rock drummer ever. Period. Darin Strauss on faith at the Jewish Book Council blog. Tao Lin interviews Ben Lerner at The Believer. There is talk of declawing cats. Bernard-Henri Lévy is feeling pretty good about Libya right now. Especially since he was so instrumental in getting his country to intervene in the fighting. Caryn Rose’s B-Sides and Broken Hearts gets reviewed. Funny guy Nick Kroll teaches […]
Morning Bites: Lovecraft turns 120, Grossman and the Woolfs, Finnish Bellow, and more
Tomorrow, August 20th, is the 120th birthday of H.P. Lovecraft. Lev Grossman talks some Virginia Woolf. Remember last year when he wrote about Virginia’s husband in The Believer? (We’re just trying to give you things to read this weekend.) The short list is announced for the St. Francis literary prize. The writers and their nominated books are: Kevin Brockmeier, The Illumination; Joshua Cohen, Witz; Jonathan Dee, The Privileges; Yiyun Li, Gold Boy Emerald Girl; Marlene van Niekerk, Agaat; and Brad […]
Indexing: The Paris Review, The Drawbridge and The Believer
Posted by Jason Diamond Lorin Stein begins his tenure of The Paris Review with issue #194. He walked the hallowed halls of Paris Review HQ (I’m guessing they’re considered hallowed), sat down at his desk, and comprised an editor’s note that was eloquent and assertive. A great note to start a new era.
Lev Grossman: Self-Hating Bestseller?
I love Lev Grossman and all (his essay in the last issue of The Believer was fantastic), but I get this sneaking suspicion that he hates being a bestselling author. Example 1: Example 2: “How I Got Published By Lev Grossman; or, A Series of Unfortunate Events“