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The 10 Most Recent Dispatches
- The Bat Segundo Show: Agnieszka Holland
- The Bat Segundo Show: Stephen Fry
- The Bat Segundo Show: Deborah Scroggins
- Komen for the Cowards: Betraying Breast Cancer
- The Bat Segundo Show: Susan Cain
- Forgotten Writers: Dorothy Uhnak
- Dwight Garner’s Revisionist Ignorance: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Forgotten Writers: The Novels of John P. Marquand
- The Situation in American Waffles
- The Bat Segundo Show: Elliot Perlman
Modern Library Reading Challenge
On January 10, 2011, Managing Editor Edward Champion pledged to read the top 100 fiction books from #100 to #1. Read about his progress as he makes his way through the Modern Library canon!
84. The Death of the Heart (January 6, 2012)
85. Lord Jim (November 30, 2011)
86. Ragtime (October 30, 2011)
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)
Ames, Jonathan Archive
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Interview with Dean Haspiel
Posted on January 5, 2009 | No CommentsFor his most recent project, Jonathan Ames collaborated with friend and artist Dean Haspiel for The Alcoholic, a graphic novel in which a character named “Jonathan A.,” who bears more... -
Jonathan Ames Pilot on Showtime
Posted on December 16, 2007 | No CommentsLongtime readers know that many years ago, I opened an envelope in my mail that contained a hastily handwritten letter and a small, poorly Xeroxed photograph of Ed McMahon. Unlike... -
The Herring Wonder Returns!
Posted on July 19, 2007 | 2 Comments -
Craig Davidson vs. Jonathan Ames
Posted on July 11, 2007 | 5 CommentsAs regular readers know, back in the day, I made a deal with a man at a crossroads who pledged to give me a mysterious potato salad recipe (along with... -
Ames et Manson
Posted on May 24, 2007 | No CommentsJonathan Ames, favorite author of P.S. and writer of such novels as THE EXTRA MAN, I PASS LIKE NIGHT and WAKE UP, SIR!, plus three collections of comedic essays, has... -
Jonathan Ames Alert
Posted on March 14, 2007 | 1 CommentA few years ago, I flew to Kansas, enduring a sweltering September afternoon. I stood at a crossroads, which I barely found, seeing as how the junction had been illegibly... -
Jonathan Ames Alert
Posted on March 1, 2007 | No CommentsAs regular readers know, several years ago, I made a deal with a demon at a crossroads. The demon informed me that his name was Anthony Robbins. The demon, who... -
Speculating Upon Gasps
Posted on January 31, 2007 | No CommentsJonathan Ames: “On the oral-sex front, I then made a concerted effort to lick the labia, which was something I’ve been guilty of neglecting in the past, and again the... -
Jonathan Ames Alert
Posted on January 28, 2007 | 2 CommentsLong-time readers know that I once made a deal with a daemon. An evil eidolen answering to the name of Bee promised that if I continuously reported Jonathan Ames’ activity,... -
Ames Alert
Posted on November 22, 2006 | No CommentsRegular readers of this site know that I once made a deal with a mysterious stranger at a crossroads. Mention everything that Jonathan Ames does on this site and I... -
Jonathan Ames at The Moth
Posted on October 10, 2006 | No CommentsLoyal Reluctant readers know that at some time in the past, I made a deal with a blues guitarist at a crossroads. The guitarist, who claimed that he was rather... -
Jonathan Ames Alert
Posted on August 22, 2006 | No CommentsSeveral years ago, I made a deal at a rustic crossroads. A man, clad only in a red velveteen suit, told me that good things would happen under the following... -
75 Books: Books #12-32
Posted on March 23, 2006 | No CommentsOkay, I have a tremendous backlog on write-ups. Pardon me if my thoughts are ocassionally rushed here, but the only way to get this out of the way and kill... -
Roundup
Posted on March 20, 2006 | No CommentsRules for Writing Neo-Victorian Novels. Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog Golden Rule Jones, who is, as we established not so long ago is not a Peter Cetera fan, has finally... -
The Bat Segundo Show #25
Posted on March 13, 2006 | 1 CommentAuthor: Jonathan Ames Condition of Bat Segundo: Too easily complaisant to charlatan announcers. Subjects Discussed: The controversial cover of I Love You More Than You Know, self-promotional footnotes, rules for... -
Roundup
Posted on March 9, 2006 | 6 CommentsAnother day, another Robert Birnbaum interview. This time: Uzodinma Iweala. Concerning the Jonathan Ames testicle controversy, it seems that the testicle is ahead of the shadow by a ratio of... -
More Ames News
Posted on February 25, 2006 | 2 CommentsThe demon who I made the deal with many years ago informs me that I’ve been less than stellar in reporting Jonathan Ames-related activities. So here goes: Steve Rhodes took... -
Jonathan Ames at the Booksmith
Posted on February 16, 2006 | 2 CommentsI suppose I could blame Jonathan Ames for missing a good chunk of Saturday’s Chinese New Year Parade and the Valentine’s Day Pillow Fight at the Ferry Building. But that... -
75 Books, Books #5-7
Posted on January 23, 2006 | No CommentsLast week was a busy week, but if there was any advantage to MUNI’s stunning inefficiencies of late (thank you, Nathaniel Ford!), it’s the extra 45 minutes per day of... -
Ames Alert
Posted on September 7, 2005 | 1 CommentAs Return of the Reluctant readers know, last year we signed a contract with a well-dressed man who happened to have a pair of horns. The man promised that we... -
Ames Update
Posted on August 18, 2005 | No CommentsEarlier this year, in March, I signed a contract not with Faust, but with someone far more pleasant. I believe his name was First. Mr. First was dressed in a...