William T. Vollmann’s Europe Central is currently ranked #189 at Amazon.
Category / Amazon
Roundup
- More proof of the Gray Lady’s literary irrelevance: a two-page profile of Nicole Richie — not in the Style section, but the Books section. (via Moorish Girl)
- The National Review talks with James Ellroy: “What shocks people is when they find out that I’m not a liberal. When you don’t hold to the liberal orthodoxy in publishing and films, people are shocked. And they take that oh-how-can-you-be-that tack. Or they may take that how-can-you-be-so-uncool tack.”
- French literary prizes may be difficult for Houellebecq to nab, but Orham Pamuk picked up the Prix Medicis without any problems.
- 34 Japanese novels are being translated into English.
- Proving once again how little poetry is regarded these days: this terrible typo.
- Meeting Tom Cruise Helps Chinese Writer Fulfill Her American Dream. You’ve got to be shitting me.
- Alex Beam takes on Amazon Pages, pointing out that buying select pages is an effective way to avoid dogearring pages.
- An audio report of the 50th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” in Cambridge.
More Fun with Amazon
Amazon has recently instituted “text stats,” which measures a book by Fleish-Kincaid index (the higher you go, the more difficult it is to read), percentage of complex words and words per dollar. Now if this is the basis for why one should read, let’s see how the thickass literary heavy-hitters stand up:
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 9.3
Complex Words: 11%
Words Per Dollar: 25,287
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 7.3
Complex Words: 9%
Words Per Dollar: 24,553
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 8.4
Complex Words: 9%
Words Per Dollar: 25,458
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 9.5
Complex Words: 10%
Words Per Dollar: 24,086
The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 6.6
Complex Words: 9%
Words Per Dollar: 31,532
Ulysses by James Joyce
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 6.8
Complex Words: 10%
Words Per Dollar: 16,777
The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers
Fleisch-Kincaid Index: 8.5
Complex Words: 14%
Words Per Dollar: 20,944
And here are the winners.
Best Words Per Dollar Value: William T. Vollmann
Author You’ll Need Your Dictionary For: Richard Powers
Most Difficult to Read: Thomas Pynchon (w/ David Foster Wallace a close second)
Easiest to Read: William T. Vollmann (w/ James Joyce a close second)
Because Being a Team Player Involves Occasional Cunnilingus
MacKenzie Bezos has a new book out. Clearly, the fact that MacKenzie is married to Jeff Bezos has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with this fawning interview at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Clearly, the fact that Amazon is based in Seattle has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the apparent urgency to get Mrs. Bezos precious column inches that could have gone to Kelly Link, Christopher Sorrentino, Lee Martin, or Kirby Gann. This interview was clearly intended to reflect the most seminal concerns for furthering humanities of our age!
Quick Roundup
- We’re very sorry to learn that George Fasel of A Girl and a Gun has passed away. Our condolences to his friends and family.
- Dan Wickett talks with more literary journal editors. At this rate, Mr. Wickett will have chatted with everyone in the literary world by June 2006.
- Bad Librarian’s chronicles continue, with remarks on the Patriot Act and a shocking personal revelation.
- Amazon will begin offering short story downloads. The stories will be 49 cents a pop. Presumably, each user who signs up for this service will have every known purchasing histroy detail logged and will be recommended tales that have nothing whatsoever to do with their literary interests. (Example: If you liked “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” you might like “The Snows of Central Park West” by Bret Easton Ellis.)
- You have to love the way some folks jump to conclusions. The speculation continues with this latest press release (PDF) now making the rounds. The APA is now calling for the video game industry to reduce violence. Even if we accept the idea that video game violence is a major influence upon patterned behavior (and the resolution itself corrals this in with several other studies relating to “the media,” rather than “video games” explicitly), it apparently hasn’t occurred to these psychiatrists that parents might be the ones responsible for exposing their children to violent content and that the choice is theirs. As much as I would welcome the idea of preventing McDonald’s from operating, you wouldn’t, for example, see the AMA demand that the fast food industry stop selling hamburgers.