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: Lipsyte Bringing Back “Comic Novels”, Emma Straub Asks About Updike, Loving Zadie Smith, and More
A press release included with Sam Lipsyte’s forthcoming novel, The Ask, gets Mark Athitakis on the subject of “comic novels”. Emma Straub wants to know if John Updike’s Rabbit trilogy is a classic. Stealing from bookstores. Reason #21 we love New York: “Because we fight over poetry“ If the Virtual Victorian is excited about the Sherlock Holmes film, it’s gotta be good. William Faulkner’s relationship with Meta Carpenter Three Guys One Book love Zadie Smith. Our hometown Pictures from “the […]
The Kinks, the “British Way,” and America in the 00’s
By Jason Diamond The Kinks (from 1964 to 1972) are untouchable, and their name should always be mentioned with the same respect as The Beatles or The Stones. Of course, while I love Village Green Preservation Society just as much as any other person with a heart, my favorite album is 1969’s Arthur (Or the Decline of the British Empire). This record is the apex of Ray Davies’ masterful songwriting, his most biting critique of the “British way of life.” […]
Bites: Rebecca Solnit On “Elite Panic,” Penguin Classics Go Dopey, Truman Peyote the Band, and More
Essays are great. The talented Rebecca Solnit (above) discusses “elite panic,” among other things, in an an interview at BOMB Magazine. “Zadie Smith on the rise of the essay.“ The kind of wishy-washy title of Bob Thompson’s piece in The American Scholar, “Writing About Writers,” does not give it due justice. Please read. Lit. Thinking of gifting a newfangled, bougey little reading device called the Nook? Well, you’re outta luck. Yep, you may have to settle for the Kindle, which […]
Bites: Zadie Smith, Obama Bowing, Studs Terkel was a Watched Man, Pondering Proust, End of the Decade Lists, New Moon vs. Gilmore Girls, and More
SF Chronicle and L.A. Times both review Zadie Smith’s Changing My Mind. The Millions comment on the reviews “non-committal, guarded praise” and go on to call it “wunderkind jealousy”. The Guardian says of Smith, “criticism is a bodily pleasure“. Time Out New York weighs in on Changing, name drops a bunch of other great writers while doing so. End up liking the book. Lit. The FBI kept an eye on Studs Terkel, considering him a “suspected communist”. Surprised? Saul Bellow […]
Bites: Get Crazy About Nabokov, Zadie Smith, Tao Lin’s Stuff, John Irving is Worried, New Magnetic Fields, The Beets at a Museum, and More.
Let’s go crazy about Nabokov! On the Media talks to Ron Rosenbaum of Slate about his conflicted feelings over the publication of The Original of Laura. Aleksandar Hemon is sorta against Laura seeing the light of day. Nabokov specimen covers. Lit. Village Voice on Zadie Smith’s collection of essays, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. Tao Lin will sell you a bunch of his stuff for a really good price. John Irving is worried about me? I was worried about John […]
Weekend Bites: Dave Eggers is like John Wayne with a pen, Raymond Carver, Jon Ronson, Bjork and Barney kaput?, Hornby hearts LHB, and more.
Three Guys One Book: “Where have all the cowboys gone? Has literature isolated itself from a bigger cultural context?” Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Dennis Johnson, Gary Shteyngart, and the New York Times bestsellers of 1943 all make cameos. Jacket Copy asks: “How much of (Raymond) Carver’s “minimalist” style was a byproduct of (Gordon) Lish’s editing?” This 1997 New Yorker article provided as reference, and this review of the Library of America release of “Raymond Carter: Collected Stories” might shed sufficient […]
Weekend Bites: Dave Eggers is like John Wayne but with a pen, Raymond Carver, Jon Ronson, Bjork and Barney kaput?, Hornby hearts LHB, and more.
Three Guys One Book: “Where have all the cowboys gone? Has literature isolated itself from a bigger cultural context?” Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Dennis Johnson, Gary Shteyngart, and the New York Times bestsellers of 1943 all make cameos. Jacket Copy asks: “How much of (Raymond) Carver’s “minimalist” style was a byproduct of (Gordon) Lish’s editing?” This 1997 New Yorker article provided as reference, and this review of the Library of America release of “Raymond Carter: Collected Stories” might shed sufficient […]