When Ephron met Englander

Nathan Englander’s got a new collection coming out, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, as well as an upcoming play based off a story from his first collection of stories.  What else has Mr. Englander got coming up?  Well, he’s in conversation with Nora Ephron at Symphony Space on January 25th, and we’ve got a pair of tickets to give out.  What do you have to do win them?  Tweet the hashtag #NoraandNathan at @Vol1Brooklyn.  Winners will be picked […]

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Weekend Bites: Syd Barrett Biography, Nora Ephron, Fox News Reliable Source, Shteyngart + Moody And More

At Boston Globe: Talking about a new a new Syd Barrett biography. At The New York Times: Nora Ephron is the 69-year-old that I’d most like to hang out with. At The Guardian: Christopher Hitchens may have cancer, but he can still kick Tony Blair’s ass at a debate. At Mediate:  Fox News is finally using The Onion as a source. At Beatrice: Shteyngart and Moody to do some sci-fi.

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Weekend Bites: Mailer/Frey, “real-sad writing,” Adam Levin, The Awl wants to merge, and more

At Impose:  The Norman Mailer/James Frey connection. At Vice: New York Tyrant says that Brandon Hobson writes “real-sad writing.”  Find out for yourself. At Beatrice: Discussing The Instructions by Adam Levin. At NPR:  Nora Ephron getting older is funnier than you at pretty much any point in your life. The Awl were inspired by Tina Brown, and will now merge with any magazine that will have them At The Guardian:  French Maoists, The Rolling Stones, and Sartre all make appearances […]

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Weekend Bites: Ebert’s Book Picks, Ferris at a Bar, Taylor in The Times, Thompson Goes Nuts, Jung Rocks, and More

Robert Ebert suggests forgotten Chicago writer, Harry Stephen Keeler. Juliana Hatfield talks about Carl Jung. Chicago Sun Times on Third World Press In defense of Nora Ephron. Get sloshed with Joshua Ferris. Hunter S. Thompson kvetching like a madman. Justin Taylor’s Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever is reviewed in the Times. Carrie Brownstein picks some breakup songs.

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A Brief History of the Modern Zombie, or Why I Hate Zombie Lit

by Willa A. Cmiel For as much as we like to talk about and link to zombies here at Vol. 1, I really think the trend is, to put it nicely, pretty silly. To be truly frank, I actually find it immensely, offensively, near-tragically awful. (It’s true that I’ve written about this before.) Historically, zombie mythology originated in West Indian Voodoo lore, and was taken and misinterpreted by Western society (Night of the Living Dead). And then we took it […]

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Two hundred grand will buy you the weirdest night of your life

Just imagine, you could eat a dinner “scheduled at your convenience on a Monday between February and June 2010, in Manhattan” with Malcolm Gladwell, the priest from Footloose, and that blessed lady who wrote all those romantic comedies we aren’t ashamed to admit we love. The whole shebang will only set you back $200,000 dollars. And listen, we won’t fault you if you got the cash, it’s totally fine.  Just make sure you include the stipulation that the freakshow needs […]

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Bites: Nora Ephron not optimistic, novels about being broke, America still liberal, Antony does Beyonce, problems with the High Line

By Willa A. Cmiel America is still blue. Nora Ephron’s must-reads include The Great Gatsby and Barbara Ehrenreich’s upcoming Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. “Ehrenreich convinced me so completely that I hesitate to say anything so positive as that this book will change the way you see absolutely everything; but it just might.” Another list: The Best Novels About Being Broke. First three are Oliver Twist, Hunger, and, my personal favorite, Down and Out […]

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