Bites: David Berman’s Blog, Neal Cassady, David Foster Wallace on the Internet and More

Posted by Jason Diamond Today’s news is brought to you by the kosher salt I had to use throw in front of me as I tried to climb down my stoop that was covered in ice.  Kosher salt: God wants you to use it. David Berman (above) has a blog.  There is a pretty good chance the former Silver Jew has kosher salt in his kitchen. According to The Guardian, Neal Cassady took drugs, was a bigamist and an all […]

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Weekend Bites: 100 Years After Tolstoy, Yale Gives Back to the Incas, Richard Nash, Bellow’s Letters and More

At Slate: Looking at Leo Tolstoy 100 years after his death. At The Huffington Post: White people trying to make up for destroying ancient civilizations At Jewcy: An interview with Richard Nash. At Boing Boing: Somebody is really excited about the John Hodgman podcast. At The Atlantic: Sure, Harry Potter makes a ton of money, but is it the best franchise ever? At The Guardian: Saul Bellow: Letters is reviewed.

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Bites: Bolaño syllabus, Jewish Wild Things, David Byrne, Hot Topic tour, and more.

  Lit. The Millions have an essay, “A Bolaño Syllabus.”  That’s all, nothing witty.  Just read it. Tablet Magazine, happy to point out that Where the Wild Things Are has “profoundly Jewish roots,” calls Paste Magazine’s essay which informs this theory “overwrought.”  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Once a dream, now a reality. L Magazine interviews Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries. Google may modify its online book deal (Thanks, Boston Globe) Dear Conversational Reading, Mainstream publishing mystifies […]

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Bites: Inglorious Wizerds, Keats on the big screen, Neil Gaiman’s library, Thurston on Gossip Girl, and more

“Dark wizard ain’t got no charms. They’re the foot-soldiers of a muggle-hatin’ mass-murderin’ maniac and they need to be destroyed.” Lit. John Keats gets the big screen treatment (thanks The Millions) Michael Kimball interviews Gary Lutz (Thanks The Faster Times) Well, now we know what Neil Gaiman’s library looks like (Thanks Boing Boing) “Jane Austen is dead. Get over it.” (Thanks Indichik) Deckfight pick their top five Southern novels, and take the ballsy route of excluding any Faulkner. Music “Ah, […]

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Weekend Bites: Truman and Harry, David Byrne on Kindle, good friends-bad novels, Naked Lunch at 50, and more.

I always said Truman Capote knew the boy wizard, and nobody believed me. So I guess I shouldn’t buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking because “unfortunately, that will probably send even more Meryl Streep wannabes straight to bookstores looking for food porn. And they will be sold bibles.”  Bummer (Slate) David Byrne: Kindle DRM means “you are f*cked” (Thanks Boing Boing) Two A.V. Chicago writers ask if Ferris Bueller was true to it’s Chicago backdrop Jens Lekman will play […]

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The Gospel According to Harry (and Scholars, and Fanatics, and Movie-Goers)

By Willa A. Cmiel I would claim to be a part of the original Harry Potter generation. The series starts near Harry’s eleventh birthday, and the first book came out in 1997 when I was eleven years old. Although “too old” for children’s books now (I still read Alice in Wonderland, often), I grew up with Harry. I was with him from the very start. At this point, though, Harry Potter belongs to no generation, as much as he belongs […]

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Bites: “Essential” postmodernism, Bruni was bulimic, Daniel Radcliffe’s heartbeat, and more

The LA Times’ book blog Jacket Copy has brazenly compiled the dorkiest list ever of “essential postmodern reading.” Levi Asher received three copies of the New York Times Magazine this weekend. I, sadly, received none. It’s all well and good though, because I have very little interest in Frank Bruni’s binge-eating, possibly bulimic early years. Shudder. On the same topic, here’s what Gawker had to say about the famed food writer’s “romanticized glorification of a disturbed kiddie psychosis.” EmDashes links […]

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