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 Miéville'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, 2005
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Single-Screenless in San Francisco
Posted on May 23, 2005 | 3 CommentsIt’s a sad time for San Francisco cinema. The Roxie is at death’s door. But unlike the bailout in 2002, this time, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,... -
Top o’ the Morning
Posted on May 23, 2005 | 1 CommentPaul Collins has unearthed a new scandal. It seems that author Misha Defonseca was denied royalties for her Holocaust memoir, Misha: A Memoir of the Holocaust Years. A state appeals... -
So Long As Leonardo DiCapprio Isn’t Involved, We’re Happy
Posted on May 23, 2005 | No CommentsA new adaptation of Macbeth is in the works. But this one has some interesting casting. Jennifer Connelly, whose beauty and talent often causes me to curl up into a... -
SF Sightings — Tayari Jones
Posted on May 23, 2005 | No CommentsIt was a preternaturally sunny afternoon in the City. But that didn’t stop Scott and me from checking out Tayari Jones at A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books. Jones, who... -
Tanenhaus Watch: May 22, 2005
Posted on May 22, 2005 | 1 CommentWEEKLY 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... -
Tanenhaus Watch: May 15, 2005
Posted on May 22, 2005 | No 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... -
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Posted on May 22, 2005 | 1 CommentI’ve started reading The Rainbow Stories as part of The Vollmann Club. The last book of Vollmann’s I read was The Royal Family, which was about four years ago. Scott... -
A Meme That Involves Ears
Posted on May 22, 2005 | 1 Comment1. The person (or persons) who passed the baton to you. The trusty Tito Perez — whom I wish I had run into while at Coachella. 2. Total volume of... -
Clarifying the Panties Issue
Posted on May 22, 2005 | No CommentsIf you’re coming here from James Callan’s Telegraph article (not yet available online), welcome. I’m not certain how accurate he was about calling this place “an addictive mix of urbane... -
Nightmares & Solutions
Posted on May 20, 2005 | No CommentsIf you thought that Abu Ghraib was an isolated incident, brother, have I got a serious wakeup call for you. Read this. Then come back here. The people in charge... -
Never Knock the Doctor While He’s Down
Posted on May 20, 2005 | 2 CommentsApologies for being down and out for the count. Back in the day, we made the mistake of registering our domain with Network Solutions and it took several angry words... -
Republicans Propose NFL Referee Signals As Replacement for Filibuster
Posted on May 19, 2005 | 1 Comment -
That Is the Sound of a Thousand Bad Vanity Press Titles Coming Our Way
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsApparently, your blog can now be turned into a PDF book. -
Not A Bad Deal for First Class Mail
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsGuy mails camera through postal service, guy instructs USPS workers to take pictures. To guy’s surprise, postal workers fulfill their end of a nutty Faustian bargain. There’s even a cameramail... -
List of Possible Titles for New Brigid Hughes Magazine (Dated March 2005)
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsA Private Shack A Soul Apart A Ryder Rental Plimpton’s Enigma Won’t Sell Out George is Holding on Line Five Revue Review Lit My Fire Lit Me Darkly Lit Me... -
Shortly After Noon
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsScott wants to know: What is the literary mainstream? In Seattle, the Tiny Ninja Theatre has concocted a plastic toy version of Hamlet. Viggo and Cronenberg sitting in a tree.... -
And They Said the Literary Magazine Was Dead!
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsFormer Paris Review editor Brigid Hughes (Plimpton’s short-lived successor) will be launching a new magazine. What’s particularly cool is that she’s enlisted Richard Powers (one of my favorite living novelists)... -
Episode III
Posted on May 19, 2005 | 3 Comments1. Amazing as this may seem, in Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas does recapture the Saturday matinee cliffhanger feel of the IV-VI trilogy. (In fact, characters hang from ledges... -
Episode III
Posted on May 19, 2005 | No CommentsThe short answer: Good, not great. Far superior to Episodes I and II. Fun, far more imaginative than I expected. A more detailed report to follow. Now: To bed. -
The Donkeys Need A Little Galloway In Their Diets
Posted on May 18, 2005 | No CommentsBritish MP George Galloway demonstrated what a politician can and should be doing in response to the shoddy ad decidedly undemocratic groupthink that passes for political discourse in this nation.... -
Oh, the Hype of It All
Posted on May 18, 2005 | 1 CommentOh, the Glory of It All, a memoir written by McSweeney’s editor Sean Wilsey, has been getting hyped hyped HYPED. Wilsey is the son of Dede Wilsey, a wealthy socialite... -
He Also Gave Peter Sellers a Wedgie, Which Explains Why Sellers Was Never Cast in 2001
Posted on May 18, 2005 | No CommentsRoger Ebert has been offering some good coverage of Cannes, butin this entry, Ebert reveals something quite interesting: …it reminded him that Stanley Kubrick sometimes drove up in front of... -
Revenge of the George
Posted on May 18, 2005 | No CommentsThis may be a colossal mistake, but somehow I’ve been roped into the 12:01 AM Revenge of the Sith show. Regular readers of Return of the Relutant know that while... -
Greenfield & The Popular History Question
Posted on May 18, 2005 | 3 CommentsWithout even bothering to read the book in question (David McCullough’s 1776), professor David Greenberg has declared war on popular history in a two part argument on Slate. Specifically, Greenberg... -
Invasion of the Google Snatchers
Posted on May 17, 2005 | 4 CommentsThe folks at the University of Texas at Austin have decided to do away with books for undergraduates. 90,000 volumes in the undergraduate libraries will be replaced by something called... -
On Symbiosis Between Humans and Books
Posted on May 17, 2005 | No CommentsThe book medium itself is a trusty format. It can be read and reread. It can be started or stopped at any point. It can persused at any speed: as... -
Bush Promises Return to Pat Nixon-Style Wardrobes with Ultra-Conservative Judicial Nominees
Posted on May 17, 2005 | 1 Comment -
Evidence That Today’s Copy Editors Are Probably Humorless and Not As Playful as They Could Be
Posted on May 17, 2005 | No CommentsExhibit A: Only one (one!) outlet resorted to “Newsweak” when writing about the Koran scandal. -
Morning Tidbits
Posted on May 17, 2005 | 3 CommentsBill Moyers, responding to attacks by “the right-wing media and their allies at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” says that the Internet represents the future to serve the public with... -
The Vollmann Club
Posted on May 17, 2005 | No CommentsWith the considerable help and participation of Black Market Kidneys, Conversational Reading, The Happy Booker, Rake’s Progress and this site, The Vollmann Club, an insane effort to read all of...