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, 2009
-
The Bat Segundo Show: Blake Bailey
Posted on May 11, 2009 | No CommentsBlake Bailey appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #284. Blake Bailey is most recently the author of Cheever and the editor of the two-volume John Cheever set recently issued by... -
May Podcast Madness!
Posted on May 10, 2009 | 2 CommentsIn today’s edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, you can find my review of Sarah Waters’s The Little Stranger. Waters appeared on The Bat Segundo Show back in 2006. And she’ll... -
The Bat Segundo Show: Atom Egoyan
Posted on May 8, 2009 | No CommentsAtom Egoyan appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #283. Atom Egoyan is most recently the writer and director of Adoration, which opens in limited release on May 8, 2009. He... -
The Bat Segundo Show: John Wray
Posted on May 8, 2009 | No CommentsJohn Wray appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #282. John Wray is most recently the author of Lowboy. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Searching for those who will listen to him... -
Review: Star Trek (2009)
Posted on May 5, 2009 | 33 CommentsIn 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture featured the likes of David Gerrold and Bjo Trimble in small roles, transmitting a subconscious wire that, whatever the film’s faults, this was... -
Colson Whitehead Responds to YA “Controversy”
Posted on May 4, 2009 | 20 CommentsThe blog A Lil’ Sumpin’ Sumpin’ recently posted an item from an appearance that Colson Whitehead made at The New School. At the event, Whitehead was reportedly asked about whether... -
The Novelist as Used Car Salesman
Posted on May 3, 2009 | 2 CommentsThere is a type of novelist who saddens me: the kind of novelist who prefers the status of having written instead of the consistent joys of writing, the type of... -
My Services Elsewhere
Posted on May 3, 2009 | No CommentsTwo pieces have been recently cajoled out of me. Chris Robbins recently acquired the domain, embarrassing.com, through some legerdemain that I won’t inquire about. (It seems more interesting, anyway, to... -
The Roots of Insomnia
Posted on May 1, 2009 | 1 CommentI had proceeded thus far, when I found I had been lying awake so long that the very dead began to wake too, and to crowd into my thoughts most...