Books To Jump Up and Down Over
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Archive for March, 2005
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Form Follows Function
Posted on March 31, 2005 | No CommentsAnd on the seventh day, the Lords of the Blogosphere performed the two-step with literary enthusiasts and created the Valve — an exciting new collective from the folks who gave... -
Seven Pillars of Bookstore Customers
Posted on March 31, 2005 | No CommentsThe Book Geek: S/he can be counted upon to buy something obscure or with literary underground streetcred (like say Steve Erickson or Kathy Acker) and will spend at least 20... -
RIP Mitch Hedberg
Posted on March 31, 2005 | 3 CommentsGoddam, Mitch Hedberg has passed on. He was only 37. Here are some Hedbergisms in his honor: “The thing about tennis is: no matter how much I play, I’ll never... -
Sin City: New Meaning of “Faithful Translation to Screen”
Posted on March 31, 2005 | 1 CommentYahoo has a fantastic slideshow comparing the Sin City panels to the film angles: -
The Publishing Industry is All About Time Management
Posted on March 30, 2005 | 1 CommentIt seems that Windstream Publishing, who berated Stephanie Perry for giving Richard Bothelho’s Leah’s Way a bad review, can’t refrain from sending rude emails to anyone who dares to suggest... -
Ruminator — It’s Here and Much Better than the Tuminator (Pictured Below)
Posted on March 30, 2005 | No CommentsLike the Rake, until we got the email, we had no idea the Ruminator existed. But there’s some good stuff, including an interview with Volker Schlondorff, a piece from Jhumpa... -
Upton Sinclair, Soon to Appear in a Spring Break Video
Posted on March 30, 2005 | 1 CommentThe San Francisco Bay Guardian takes a long look at Professor Lauren Coodley‘s almost single-handed Upton Sinclair boosterism. She’s prepared a new anthology, The Land of Orange Grove and Jails,... -
If It Isn’t Art, It’s Memorex
Posted on March 30, 2005 | No CommentsIan McEwan has said that “life imitates art.” In the last year alone, McEwan reports that he witnessed a balloon accident and was stalked by a mentally ill man, published... -
Just Be Grateful They Didn’t Refer To Them As “Ingenuous Cripples”
Posted on March 30, 2005 | No CommentsNew York Times Corrections: “Because of editing errors, an article and a review in The Arts on Saturday about the film “Murderball,” which looks at rugby players who use wheelchairs,... -
Equal Opportunity Mocking
Posted on March 30, 2005 | No CommentsWe won’t comment on the blogger wars. We already defended the right to mock literary figures a few weeks ago and have nothing further to say. We plan to earn... -
Cookie Monster Saddened By Recent “Sesame” Sellout
Posted on March 30, 2005 | 5 CommentsWASHINGTON D.C. (AP): This morning, in front of reporters, Cookie Monster revealed shocking allegations that his love for cookies was being curtailed against his will by the producers of Sesame... -
Linklater’s Omnipotent Narrative
Posted on March 30, 2005 | 6 CommentsAs Dan Green notes, Long Pauses has a very good post up about Richard Linklater’s films. Darren points out that all of Linklater’s characters are represented in an egalitarian light,... -
Insomnia-Charged Roundup
Posted on March 30, 2005 | No CommentsRadio host Paul Kennedy is trying to win Leonard Cohen a Nobel Prize. “He’s different from a celebrity; he’s almost God,” says Kennedy. You can make the same claim about... -
A Book A Day, That’s All We Ask
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 5 CommentsRick Gekoski’s idea of bliss involves reading a book a day. He’s a Man Booker judge for 2005. And with 130 titles to read in five or six months, the... -
We Get the Same Way After A Bit of Whiskey
Posted on March 29, 2005 | No CommentsUlrich Baer has written to the Rake with a lengthy essay about the creation of his book, The Wisdom of Rilke: “My process of translation involves a lot of reading... -
Bush Tries to Galvanize Dog with Social Security Harangue; Dog Demands to Use Public Facilities
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 1 Comment -
The Harriet Klausner Mythos
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 2 CommentsBooksquare suggests that Amazon reviewer Harriet Klausner (profiled in today’s Wall Street Journal by Joanne Kaufman) isn’t exactly a discovery of such stunning new finds as Tess Gerritsen, pointing out... -
AM Roundup
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 1 CommentCarrie Fisher will write a book revealing several secrets behind the Star Wars trilogy. Among some of the telling details: Mark Hamill was a midget who received two leg implants... -
Obligatory Book Thing Pimp
Posted on March 29, 2005 | No CommentsThis site doesn’t have a New Yorker cartoonist, but so as not to leave the Old Hag flailing in the dust, we should point out that if you have a... -
An Introduction
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 1 CommentIf you’re coming here from the New York Times article, welcome. This website is a dedication to the life of Edward Champion (1974-1998), who was unexpectedly beheaded by a samurai... -
Choose Your Own Adventure from a Freelance Writer’s Perspective
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 7 Comments1. It’s close to seven o’clock. You’ve spent most of the day doing everything in your power to put off deadlines. Now the phone won’t stop ringing as you pound... -
The Book Review Reviewers
Posted on March 28, 2005 | 6 CommentsHoly frijole! Return of the Reluctant got a whole paragraph from the Gray Lady and was named with several other fantastic and swell folks. That conventional media has responded so... -
Win, Blog or Draw
Posted on March 28, 2005 | 1 CommentThe Liner: Where one guy is determined to draw the entire graduating class of Hamline University, 1925. He’s been at this since November. -
Hugo Nominations
Posted on March 27, 2005 | 4 CommentsGwenda beat me to it (for obvious reasons), but the Hugo Nominations are up. A certain Christopher Rowe was nominated. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, put the... -
Tanenhaus Watch: March 27, 2005
Posted on March 27, 2005 | 4 CommentsWEEKLY QUESTION: Will this week’s NYTBR reflect today’s literary and publishing climate? Or will editor Sam Tanenhaus demonstrate yet again that the NYTBR is irrelevant to today’s needs? If the... -
How to Read When the Power Goes Off
Posted on March 27, 2005 | 1 CommentLast night, at Chateau Mabuse, the power went off. We were sorry to see our pages on the computer lost into the ether. But this did, nevertheless, lead us to... -
There’s a Problem When Harriet Klausner is “Infinitely More Qualified”
Posted on March 25, 2005 | No CommentsStephanie Perry reviewed Richard Bothelho’s Leah’s Way. She didn’t like it. Little did she realize that the publisher (specifically Windstream’s Sue Eccleston) would write back, declaring her absolutely wrong and... -
If You Foolish New Yorkers Read Books on the Subway, The Terrorists Have Already Won
Posted on March 25, 2005 | No CommentsThe New York Times: “‘One time I witnessed a robbery on a train,’ Mr. Ortega said, explaining that the victim ‘was wearing earphones.’ Being vigilant is more important, Mr. Ortega... -
Bret Harte Gone
Posted on March 25, 2005 | 4 CommentsI’ve just learned that, Bret Harte, a friend of mine in the local theatrical community, was killed in a car crash. A little more than a year ago, Bret directed... -
The El Segundo Primer: Foreign Corporations Good, Foreign Authors Bad
Posted on March 24, 2005 | No CommentsEl Segundo has once again demonstrated that it is one of the most ridiculous places on the planet. As David Kipen reports on KCRW’s Overbooked, the El Segundo City Council...