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 April, 2008
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Junkets
Posted on April 30, 2008 | 22 CommentsIt’s a drizzly Tuesday afternoon in the Meatpacking District. I’m waiting outside a hotel suite. It’s just before a junket interview that will be my last. A film publicist wanders... -
Sven Birkerts and the Frightening Fitzroya
Posted on April 27, 2008 | 6 CommentsBeing wrong is wonderful! It’s a bit like accidentally walking into a fitzroya and suddenly realizing that there’s this large evergreen that you didn’t know about. Suddenly, you’re forced to... -
Standard Operating Procedure
Posted on April 24, 2008 | 2 CommentsIt seems particularly fitting to remark upon Errol Morris’s latest film, Standard Operating Procedure, as Armond White offers yet another hysterical fulmination about how online culture is apparently destroying exegesis,... -
Open Source Sodomy
Posted on April 24, 2008 | 3 Comments“This should be a better world,” a science fiction convention attendee said. “A more honest one, where sex isn’t shameful or degrading. I wish this were the kind of world... -
Simple as Pie
Posted on April 24, 2008 | No CommentsLadies and gentlemen, you may have observed the relative silence around these parts of late. This is because I am very angry — furious about Hillary Clinton’s willingness to say... -
New York ComicCon — Podcast
Posted on April 22, 2008 | 1 CommentOver the course of the weekend, a number of people were interviewed by Our Young, Roving Correspondents on the floor of New York ComicCon. Thankfully, we have managed to assemble... -
On the Exchange of Moments
Posted on April 22, 2008 | 1 CommentDude, like, there’s this whole web conservation moment going down. The same bullshit about how there’s all this bullshit on the Web and how it’s up to us to be... -
NYCC: An Impromptu Interview with Jeffrey Brown
Posted on April 18, 2008 | 2 CommentsOn Friday afternoon, I began walking the floors of New York ComicCon, collecting strange snippets that will be glued together for a future installment of Segundo. I counted thirty-seven Jedi... -
NYCC: The New York Comics Legend Award
Posted on April 18, 2008 | 2 CommentsEric Rosenfield reports: The first annual New York Comics Legend Award was held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square where a number of die-hards ponied up $350 each to... -
200
Posted on April 15, 2008 | 7 CommentsToday, there are two notable pieces of news: The Bat Segundo Show has now crossed the 200 episode mark, with shocking developments involving Mr. Segundo, and Mark Sarvas‘s Harry, Revised... -
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse Plan Season Five
Posted on April 15, 2008 | 1 CommentINT. LOST PRODUCTION OFFICE — DAY DAMON runs ALL THE WAY THE FUCK INTO THE OFFICE, passing SIX FUCKING WRITERS. He carries a latte — A FUCKING VENTI LATTE, MOTHERFUCKERS!... -
Interview with Tobias Wolff
Posted on April 14, 2008 | 6 CommentsThis week, The Bat Segundo Show will cross the 200 episode barrier. A future program will feature a conversation with the writer Tobias Wolff, whose most recent book, Our Story... -
Anders in the Flesh
Posted on April 12, 2008 | 22 CommentsTobias Wolff’s short story, “Bullet to the Brain” concerns Anders, a critic so removed from the joys and pleasures of life that he is reduced to niggling over every ontological... -
Interim
Posted on April 11, 2008 | 1 CommentReports on the Mailer tribute at Carnegie Hall, the Baker/Julavits/Siegel talk* at the New York Public Library, and a review of the documentary Young@Heart are forthcoming. In the meantime, there... -
David Kipen: A True American
Posted on April 10, 2008 | 8 CommentsIn 2007, the French Ministry of Culture had an annual budget of €3.18 billion. (To give you some sense of how this fits into the grand scheme of things, France’s... -
Old-Time Music
Posted on April 8, 2008 | 5 CommentsRock ‘n’ roll is here to stay this morning Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay this morning Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay Old-time music never went away... -
Jane Smiley is Snobby Enough to Aim Low
Posted on April 7, 2008 | 7 CommentsJust so you know the heights of her hauteur, Jane Smiley’s latest review is about the snobbiest nonsense you can imagine from a book review section. The kind of afternoon... -
Charlton Heston
Posted on April 6, 2008 | 2 CommentsThe phone rang. “Charlton Heston died.” “I know.” “Well, what do you think?” I hadn’t realized that my feelings for Charlton Heston were complex. I didn’t even know that I... -
My Blueberry Nights
Posted on April 3, 2008 | 2 CommentsAs the extreme closeups of gooey ice cream melting into viscous blueberry pie made my pre-lunch stomach grumble, I thought at first that Wong Kar-Wai’s My Blueberry Nights would turn... -
The April Fool’s Collection
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 7 CommentsApril Fool’s Day has come and gone. But for those who missed the fun, here’s a list of links to the entries: Samantha Power to “Give the People What They... -
Harriet Klausner Gives Three Star Amazon Review
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 4 CommentsHarriet Klausner, known to the literary world as Amazon’s #1 reviewer and known for her generosity towards every book that she reads, stunned the literary world when she rated a... -
Lone Literary Geek Decides to Hate Sloane Crosley
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 3 CommentsAs reported this morning by Slunch, it has become almost impossible to hate Sloane Crosley. Until now. Josie Harris, a 34-year-old paralegal, has decided enough is enough, and has decided... -
Michael Bay and Bruce Willis On Board for Flann O’Brien Film Adaptation
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 3 CommentsHack Hollywood director Michael Bay informed friends and colleagues that he was “sick to death” of turning out crappy films and announced that his next project would be a film... -
Border Protection to Ban All Foreign Writers from Entering States
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 1 CommentUS Customs and Border Protection, galvanized by their successful efforts to prevent Sebastian Horsley from entering the United States, have decided to take things further in an effort to protect... -
“Pretentious Literary Fiction” To Get New Section in Bookstores
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 4 CommentsThis morning, booksellers finally figured out what to do about the massive influx of pretentious literary fiction that has taken over the “Fiction” section in bookstores. Starting next month, “Pretentious... -
Orange Unveils Male-Only Banana Prize
Posted on April 1, 2008 | No CommentsIn response to recent criticisms from A.S. Byatt, the Orange Broadband Prize announced that it would begin handing out an all-new male-only prize called the Banana Prize, which will hand... -
William Vollmann Turns In Uncharacteristically Slim Children’s Book
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 6 CommentsNational Book Award-winning writer William T. Vollmann stunned the Penguin offices when he submitted a 22-page children’s book to Viking editor Paul Slovak this morning. “It’s the shortest manuscript I’ve... -
Neal Pollack to Write Dad Essays Until the End of Time
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 1 CommentWriter Neal Pollack, who found considerable success with his book, Alternadad, has decided to write nothing other than father-related essays through the end of his natural life. “They keep paying... -
Litbloggers Agree That Blogging “Takes Too Much Time”
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 1 CommentHot on the heels of the Litblog Co-Op’s disbandment, litbloggers decided to combine their collective malaise and stop blogging. Bookbanger.com’s Gary Hesmith was the man who came up with the... -
Rachel Donadio Continues Transformation Into Younger and Stupider Curtis Sittenfeld
Posted on April 1, 2008 | 1 CommentThis Sunday, Rachel Donadio continued her regrettable declivity into the morass of embarrassing personal essays — the kind of writing once penned by Curtis Sittenfeld, before Sittenfeld wised up and...