As if writers weren’t scraping by enough, Scriverner’s Error reports that the copyright fee is going up from $30 to $45 for all registration applications received on or after July 1, 2006.
Month / June 2006
Blame It On the Bellboy
Apparently, Umberto Billo, a Venetian hotel porter, is today’s “living sex legend,” having slept with 8,000 women. This blog vows to track down the mysterious bellboy, who, upon being fired, was defended by an unknown businesswoman, “I must have spent thousands on the hotel because of him!” Unsurprisingly, this info originated from Maxim Magazine.
Best Books Since 1990
I too can vouch for Scott and state with absolute certianty that he cooked up this idea well before Tanenhaus did. He was kind enough to ask me to offer my ten and, since Max has shared his, here’s a list of the ten I submitted. Of course, being a moron, I somehow misconstrued Scott’s request and thought that he was asking me for the best books written between 1990 and 2000. (Had I known it extended to the present day, I would have definitely selected Ian McEwan’s Atonement, one of the finest novels of the past twenty years, or a David Markson book.) So my list was a tad off and typed at a feverish clip with the first ten titles that popped into my head. If I had to do it again, it would likely be different. But here are my picks in alphabetical order:
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Don DeLillo, Underworld
William Gaddis, A Frolic of His Own
Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations
Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
William T. Vollmann, The Royal Family
David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan
Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days
[UPDATE: Scott has a nice list of links to other people’s lists.]
A Public Service Announcement
And as Erin notes, I must encourage all Return of the Reluctant readers that tomorrow is a most important day in history.
Yes, that’s right! Three sixes will line up magically upon the calendar. What are you going to do? Unless you plan on placing yourself in deep hibernation, you may never see such a calendar combination again! Sure, you can take the easy route and see The Omen remake. But I contend that the real and the hardcore will follow the instructions. Skip work and listen to Slayer! Do you want to tell your grandchildren that you missed out?
Roundup
- Lest you conclude that BEA was the sole locale for publishers to unload their neuroses, the Globe and Mail reminds us that people are bitching just as ardently about BookExpo Canada. Bitching Canadians? Is it possible? One wonders whether a BookExpo Mexico or a BookExpo Germany would spawn such ennui. Is the North American publishing industry hopelessly moribund? Perhaps allowing those carefully tailored publishing execs to immolate a piñata or affording steins and tankards to panelists in an Oktoberfest-style atmosphere might make everyone a mite more jocular.
- The Lotus Lyceum: a salon for fantasy fiction. Haute couture meets orc culture? (via MetaxuCafe)
- I haven’t yet had the time to peruse the Oxford American issue that was kindly sent to me, but thankfully Scott is one step ahead of me.
- Jeff VanderMeer needs dead people.
- Nice try at a metaphor, Ms. Doughty. But unfortunately, most people want the Atkins Diet.
- Frances Dinkelspiel has been chronicling the end of Cody’s.
- We were too burned out to have any meaningful conversation with the man when he came through town, but thankfully the Villager got around to chatting with Gary Shteyngart.
- “A Life in Books” (via This Space)
- Sarah has a new story in Spinetingler.
- Kassia offers more thoughts on Google POD.
- Critical Mass continues its NYTBR contemporary fiction watch and reveals why Andrew Sean Greer chose Kavalier and Clay.
- Why Internet dating isn’t regulated.
- Forget Snakes on a Plane. Try Whales on a Date.
- Cheryl Reed is the new Sun-Times book editor.
- The Ann Arbor News talks with Mark Binelli. Our own impromptu BEA interview with Binelli will emerge in the next Bat Segundo podcast.