Posted by Jason Diamond I’m nearly 600 pages into the book that Marc Tracy at Tablet called “the Josh Cohen of the McSweeney’s set,” Adam Levin’s The Instructions. At the same time, I’m peeling open Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (which I think the NY Times likes. Not totally sure.) I’m not quite sure if it’s good for my mental state to read two large books at the same time, but I’m willing to find out. I decided to undertake […]
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 […]
Bites: L Mag Dislikes Tao Lin, Depressing Books, Rewrite of The Prince, the Polanski Problem, Chicago, Ahmadinejad, Conde Nast, and more
L Magazine wouldn’t like Tao Lin. Apparently only two people came to one of Lin’s readings at a bookstore in California, and the tiny magazine rejoiced. To contrast, here is what Vol. 1 has said about Lin’s latest novel and publishing imprint. Lit. The Top 10 Most Depressing Books. Another list, The National Book Foundation’s “Top 5 Under 35.” The Millions has a charming essay about one writer’s experience at an artist’s retreat in Wyoming. The Millions, also, interviewed Tao […]
Bites: Herzog’s La Bohème, Why Blog?, New Maugham Bio, Prometheus’ Authorship, more
Werner Herzog’s characteristically bizarre short film The Millions thinks the New Yorker’s been exceptional lately. We cosign, wholeheartedly. Emdashes proposes a panel called “Why Keep Blogging?” for next March’s South by Southwest interactive festival. Help her out by showing your support. There’s a new biography of Somerset Maugham: The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selena Hastings. Revisiting the question of authorship in Frankenstein. How much carbon dioxide are you helping emit RIGHT NOW?
Bites: Decent thoughts on today’s fiction (I know!), Bruni is replaced, Gladwell’s Mockingbird, Kubrick’s unmade work, middle-class “slave labor”
By Willa A. Cmiel Lee Seigel for the Washington Post on the End of the Episode. It’s a greatly informed, well-put essay on changes in American fiction. (Finally a good essay on contemporary fiction. Seigel is critical but not raging, constructive but unassuming): “Are you a Narrative or Episodic personality?… Or do you think that you live, like Huck Finn and every other picaresque hero, from isolated minute to isolated minute – episode to episode – and that far from adding […]
Bites: Friends With Benefits, Tiny Vipers, horny at Hogwarts, Electric Literature, and this year’s books
New bimonthly lit mag Electric Literature is looking pretty cool. If you’re old school, it’s available in print but the e-version is half the cost. Natch, an iPhone app is on the way. Plus, they pay $1,000 per accepted submission. That’s new media that can actually pay its contributors. Progress! Washington Post is on board. Another story series in Brooklyn? By Impose? Called Friends With Benefits? With Jeffrey Lewis, Dave Hill, Chris Leo, Pepi Ginsberg, and Alica Jo Rabins? Wait […]
On Being an Insufferable Snob
Sonia Chung for The Millions recently elaborated on her “insufferable snobbery” when it comes to such literary topics as genre fiction, of which she herself finds them insufferable. She laments the cultural taboo of literary snobbery, citing last week’s profile of Nora Roberts in the New Yorker and a New York Times “Summer Thriller” series featuring Dean Koontz. Why do The New Yorker and The New York Times want me to rethink my dividing lines? Are my soul or my […]