Lionel Shriver: “I try neither to be cowed by big names, nor to succumb to the pathetic illusion that by trouncing accomplished writers I make myself superior to them. I always read the entire book. And my naiveté – my refusal to think twice about alienating a colleague who down the line might help or hurt me – may make me a fool, but it also makes me fairer.” (via The Literary Saloon)
Month / May 2007
One Thing’s For Sure: It Won’t Be Filmed in a Basement in Terre Haute
Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe trilogy will be turned into a miniseries, encapsulating all three novels. (via Slushpile)
Pessl Roundtable
Callie Miller, editor staff writer of the LAist and proprietor of the litblog Counterbalance is looking for a few good minds to discuss Marisha Pessl’s novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, next week for a forthcoming roundtable discussion. Drop Callie a line if you’ve read the book and you’re interested in talking Pessl.
Lionel Shriver, Serendipitous Expert
Independent: “The trouble is, her new book is the last thing anyone seems to want to discuss with Lionel Shriver right now. We meet within a week of the Virginia Tech shootings, and Shriver has unwillingly been thrust into the role of an expert. Four years ago, she published We Need To Talk About Kevin, a bold and shocking novel with one of the most chilling endings since Don’t Look Now. It was a very early example of what she now, guiltily, calls the ‘campus shooting’ genre. Which means that, since Virginia Tech, her phone has not stopped ringing.”
Again with the Basements!
Variety: “That blogger at TMZ.com, which is owned by Warners’ own AOL, doesn’t fit the common stereotype of a lonely geek in sweats hunkered in a dark basement staring into a glowing computer screen. In fact, he was a trade reporter who was competing with his ex-colleagues at Variety for scoops. His advantage: as a blogger, he could post his items faster online.”
There are several questions that must be asked:
1. Is there anything wrong with basements?
2. Why is it that bloggers are associated with basements? Which blogger set the precedent? Have any bloggers been found dead in a basement?
3. Was the first basement-observed blogger based in Terre Haute?
4. Are they any journalists in New York now working in basements?
5. Is the preferred blogger basement a daylight basement, a walk-up basement, or a look-out basement? If we are to carry out a stereotype, I think it’s important to be specific about it.
6. Are there any known cases in which a blogger working in a basement has been bitten by a rat or a spider or a creepy crawly? Asbestos?
7. Are most of the basements owned by Warner?
8. Why would one wear sweats or pajamas in a basement?
9. Is the basement really that ideal of a spot for a desktop or laptop computer?