- Black Garterbelt: the dawning of a new rake.
- 2 Blowhards discuss Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” Let me add G.K. Chesterton (along with Maugham) as one of the most needlessly dismissed writers of the 20th century I’d like to write about sometime. (And, incidentally, he had quite a lot to say about Dickens, which was one of the first critical books I ever read.) (First link via Books, Inq.)
- Bookninja observes that three out of the top four richest authors in the UK are women.
- Also cadged from Mr. Murray: An interview with Dennis Loy Johnson.
- Mr. Esposito interviews Matthew Sharpe.
- A field guide to reading DeLillo. (via Sarah)
- In an uncharacteristic abandonment of diaphanous snark, Gawker’s Emily Gould defends Meghan O’Rourke, causing Gawker commenters to pick up the catty slack. Personally, I think Meghan O’Rourke’s a fine critic. I could care less about whether or not she worked at the New Yorker or who she’s marrying. That such needless questions increasingly matter to people who comment on blogs is appalling. If you’re going to criticize O’Rourke, do so for her work. Not because she spells her first name with an H or because she was more successful than you.
- It looks like Charlie Winton has acquired Counterpoint Press from Perseus.
- Richard reassesses his reading of Richard Powers’ novels.
- I believe I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but a hearty litblogosphere welcome to LATBR editor David L. Ulin, who now has a blog. And, yes, there’s an RSS feed. (Thanks to Carolyn for the reminder.)
Author / Edward Champion
BEA
Bury My Heart at Wounded Dee
New York Times: “‘Everyone felt very strongly that we needed a white character or a part-white, part-Indian character to carry a contemporary white audience through this project,’ Daniel Giat, the writer who adapted the book for HBO Films, told a group of television writers earlier this year.”
Hold Steadicam
A great collection of long takes. My favorite: I Am Cuba, although who can argue with many of the others, including the great Hard-Boiled shootout? (via MeFi
In Defense of W. Somerset Maugham
And I’ll fourth it.
I first encountered the stories of W. Somerset Maugham as an undergraduate in an out-of-print two-volume set that I was extremely lucky to find at an estate sale a few years later. Maugham’s stories were hardly “a creaking reminder of distant colonial days.” Like Graham Greene and Anthony Burgess, Maugham was an expert in depicting British expatriates escaping to tropical isles, attempting to find meaning through run-ins, both carnal and conversational, with these new environs. I’ll have more to say on all this, as well as his Ashenden stories, in a future post when I can find the time.