Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China MiƩville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
Archive for May, 2004
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![Andrew Anthony: “‘Do you think [Nick Broomfield] wants to be on camera?’ [Michael Moore] puts the question back to me. ‘Do you think he looks like he’s enjoying it?’” Back...](http://www.edrants.com/wp-content/themes/arras-theme/images/thumbnail.png "Michael Moore — The Ray Kroc of Left-Wing Documentary Filmmakers?")
Michael Moore — The Ray Kroc of Left-Wing Documentary Filmmakers?
Posted on May 23, 2004 | 1 CommentAndrew Anthony: “‘Do you think [Nick Broomfield] wants to be on camera?’ [Michael Moore] puts the question back to me. ‘Do you think he looks like he’s enjoying it?’” Back... -
Susan Sontag Rebounds
Posted on May 23, 2004 | No CommentsNew York Times: “Considered in this light, the photographs are us. That is, they are representative of the fundamental corruptions of any foreign occupation together with the Bush adminstration’s distinctive... -
Weekend Report
Posted on May 23, 2004 | 5 CommentsOn Thursday evening, I met with the erstwhile Mark Sarvas and the incomparable Sam Jones. I had expected to stumble into them on the streets of North Beach. But to... -
New P.O. Box
Posted on May 21, 2004 | No CommentsSince there’s been a rise in people expresing the desire to send their review copies, love letters, hate letters, and other assorted literary paraphernalia to me, I proudly announce that... -
The Elements of Biblical Style
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsThose nimble proofreaders at Peachtree are taking all the fun out of the Bible. “Sour ancestors” is now “our ancestors.” There is no longer an end to “fractions,” but an... -
Dan Brown — Spineless Chicken
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsNBC4Columbus: “Dan Brown said that when he wrote the best seller that dissects the origins of Jesus Christ and disputes long-held beliefs about Catholicism, he considered including material alleging that... -
“Semen-Stained Dress” to Be Added in Afterword
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsW.W. Norton & Company will publish the September 11 commission’s report. -
No Conclusive Correlation Between Family History and a Litigious Disposition
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsJim Ritter examines Born to Rebel, the infamous Frank Sulloway book that suggested that firstborns are grat achievers and younger siblings that turn out to be the revolutionaries. Apparently, an... -
Jerry Bruckheimer Presents “Ernest & Scotty: Masculinity on the Left Bank”
Posted on May 20, 2004 | 1 CommentA new Hemingway movie is in the works — this time, with Patrick Hemingway, Papa’s sole surviving son. Hemingway is collaborating with DVD featurette director John Mulholland. -
Not a Wedding Party
Posted on May 20, 2004 | 1 CommentThe United States government has insisted that on Wednesday, it did not fire airstrikes on a wedding party. More than 40 Iraqi citizens were killed and, yes, there was a... -
Just Don’t Ask Him to Do Silly Walks
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsJohn Cleese is starting a blog. The site’s up and Cleese promises activity before mid-October. (via Cinetrix) -
The Real Maud
Posted on May 20, 2004 | 3 CommentsOn the surface, it would seem that Maud is a nice gal, a talented writer, an able chronicler of the literary world, and, to my continued astonishment, a remarkably thorough... -
Cloud Atlas Update
Posted on May 20, 2004 | No CommentsThe Complete Review has its Cloud Atlas review up. We here at Return of the Reluctant have been nursing this fantastic novel like an exquisitely mixed margarita for several weeks... -
An Open Note to Supermarkets Dictating “Personal Policy”
Posted on May 19, 2004 | 4 CommentsDear Safeway, Albertson’s, Lucky’s, and the Like: While I appreciate the care and service of your cashiers trying to be “personal,” of which more anon, what gives your company the... -
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 5 CommentsAustralian News: “Those on low-carb plans lost weight more quickly over the first six months but failed to shed much more over the next six. Those on low-fat, low-cholesterol diets... -
Uptight 35 Year Old Reveals Her Sad Two-Partner Sexual History in Public, Hopes to Rope In Virile 25 Year Old for Saturday Night Romp and Sign Modification
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 4 Comments -
No to Exposed Nipples on Television, Yes to Exposing Nipples to Ashcroft — I Don’t Get It
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsWired: “Americans are willing to ‘get naked’ for their government if they feel it will make them more secure. That’s the conclusion Jeffrey Rosen reached in his new book The... -
Fahrenheit 9/11 Reviews
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsBBC: “But the movie’s conclusions – true or otherwise – and highly emotional interviews with bereaved parents and injured soldiers will have a big impact on audiences around the world.”... -
Unintentionally Hilarious Lead of the Day
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No Comments1490 WBEX: “Coldplay singer Chris Martin says he and wife Gwyneth Paltrow have no idea why they decided to call their baby Apple.” -
Comparative Interviews
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsE.L. Doctorow: “Writing isn’t just a matter of putting words on a page. If you do this long enough, there’s a kind of loss of self. It can drive a... -
At 21, The Goldfish Put an End to My Three-Week THC Experimentation Phase. Apparently, They Sell Novels Too.
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsIt’s been reported everywhere, but grab the goldfish cracker cover of Tom Perrotta’s Little Children while you can. Pepperidge Farms, in collusion with Perrotta to obliterate all remainders, has provoked... -
Interview with Good Ed & Bad Ed
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 6 CommentsSince I don’t have the time right now that my sexy colleagues do to read an author’s collected works and interview some writer about the pressing issues of the literary... -
So How Do You Get a Creative Writing Student on the Slush Pile?
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 1 CommentShelley Jackson has published a short story entirely on human skin. The story, “Skin,” is 2,095 words long and was published on creative writing student Rob Poulos. Poulos is currently... -
Hemingway the Nudist
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsMetherell Towers, Britain’s oldest nudist camp, has been put up for sale. The nine-bedroom chateau was opened up by Edward Hemingway, cousin of Ernest, back in the 1930s. The inside... -
Don DeLillo, Not the Next Clifford Odets
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsThe Vancouver Courier is unimpressed with Don DeLillo’s 1999 play Valparaiso, pointing out “it doesn’t make for fully satisfying theatre. At the heart of DeLillo’s play, there’s a sad, sad... -
The Great American Heartland: Comics First, Sexual Positions Beyond Missionary Second
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsNewsweek takes a look at The Escapist Unbound, suggesting that literary involvement with comics is the key to mainstream acceptance. -
Walter Tevis
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 6 CommentsJames Sallis is crazy about Walter Tevis, a native San Franciscan, pointing out that by Tevis’s own admission, The Man Who Fell to Earth is “a very disguised autobiography.” The... -
But Only One Mention of Chow-Yun Fat?
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsAngry Asian Man, among many others, is interviewed about the sexual identity of the Asian male by the L.A. Times . -
This Isn’t Your Book, Bill?
Posted on May 18, 2004 | 1 CommentAt a Canadian bookstore, a discussion of Howard Rotberg’s The Second Catastrophe was interrupted by an Iraqi Kurd and Palestinian taking umbrage with Rotberg’s words and ethnicity and spouting off... -
Kunzru — The M. Night Shyamalan of Literature?
Posted on May 18, 2004 | No CommentsHari Kunzru, who nabbed a cool £1.2 million for The Impressionist, hopes to repeat his success with his second novel. “I’ve become so used to the good life that I...