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)
Baker, Nicholson Archive
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Did the New Yorker Make Nicholson Baker Elitist?
Posted on July 27, 2009 | 18 CommentsLast year, the New York Review of Books had the bright idea of commissioning Nicholson Baker to write an exuberant essay about Wikipedia. Beginning with the simple sentence, “Wikipedia is... -
The Joys of Nicholson Baker
Posted on June 23, 2009 | 3 CommentsI was a bookish and uncertain young man bouncing around law firms when a playfully perverse paperback halted my calisthenics on the ontological trampoline. The book was The Fermata. Its... -
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... -
NYPL: Nicholson Baker & Simon Winchester
Posted on March 21, 2008 | 3 CommentsOn Thursday night, a crowd congregated into a subterranean hall of the New York Public Library to listen to Simon Winchester interview Nicholson Baker. Mr. Baker wore a green vest... -
Human Smoke — Part Five
Posted on March 14, 2008 | 11 Comments(This concludes our roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. For previous installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. (Many thanks to Julia Prosser at Simon &... -
Human Smoke — Part Four
Posted on March 13, 2008 | 11 Comments(This is the fourth of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Five.) Jackson West writes: I dithered... -
Human Smoke — Part Three
Posted on March 12, 2008 | 9 Comments(This is the third of a five-part roundtable discussion on Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Four, Part Five.) Colleen Mondor writes: Levi –... -
Human Smoke — Part Two
Posted on March 11, 2008 | 9 Comments(This is the second of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five.) Colleen Mondor writes: Hi all... -
Human Smoke — Part One
Posted on March 9, 2008 | 12 Comments(This is the first of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.) Nicholson Baker’s latest book,... -
“Human Smoke” Update
Posted on August 31, 2007 | No CommentsRegarding Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke, I have calls and emails into various people at Simon & Schuster, and I have tracked down the book’s publicist. More details to follow, as... -
New Book from Nicholson Baker!
Posted on August 26, 2007 | 6 CommentsRed alert! Months after I asked what had happened to the fantastic novelist Nicholson Baker, we now have an answer! Nicholson Baker is coming out with a new book. Human... -
AUTHORS: Do You Have What It Takes?
Posted on May 24, 2007 | 3 CommentsIt’s the ultimate reality series, the ultimate game show and the ultimate half-hour of intriguing storylines. The Ultimate Author is an awesome television program packed with entertaining, engaging and interesting... -
Hand-Crafted Baker
Posted on September 15, 2006 | No CommentsI’ve had my own Nicholson Baker post sitting in draft for many months, but thankfully Barrett Hathcock observes what makes Baker’s work tick: Perhaps what’s striking about his prose is...