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)
Language Archive
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When the Flock Changed: David Foster Wallace & Maud Newton
Posted on August 23, 2011 | 8 CommentsWhy can't Maud Newton level with us about her bilious biases? A thorough dismantling of her reactionary David Foster Wallace/blogging piece for the New York Times. -
Is the New York Times Banning “Tweet” in the Newsroom?
Posted on June 10, 2010 | No CommentsThis morning, The Awl‘s Choire Sicha reported that New York Times standards editor Phil Corbett had issued a memo to the newsroom suggesting that “tweet” (that verb used to refer... -
The Man Who Liked Vowels
Posted on February 25, 2010 | 1 Comment -
The Gibberish Song
Posted on December 21, 2009 | 5 CommentsAn Italian singer wrote this gibberish song to convey what English sounds like to non-English speakers. -
The Mysterious Origins of “Oh Snap!”
Posted on January 22, 2009 | 11 CommentsIs it possible that the 1910 children’s novel, The Bobbsey Twins at School, was a prescient influence on hip-hop? “Oh, Snap! Snap!” cried Freddie. “Don’t go there!” But Snap kept... -
Words of the Year
Posted on November 10, 2008 | 2 CommentsI am very disappointed in Oxford’s Word of the Year. “Hypermiling,” a present participle arriving now like a file cruelly lodged between two front teeth, lacks the tang of last... -
Word Count and Ancient Novels
Posted on November 8, 2008 | 4 CommentsFrom a letter to the New York Times editor, January 7, 1899: Have you taken note of the fact that the majority of successful novels are long? I mention this... -
A Supplemental Lexicon to Ross Raisin’s Fiction
Posted on July 28, 2008 | 10 CommentsBetween reading Sarah Hall’s three novels earlier this year and Ross Raisin’s debut novel, I’ve found to my astonishment that I’ve become more than a bit obsessed with the Northern... -
Literary Skeleton Crew
Posted on May 26, 2008 | No CommentsThere remain four books in the old apartment: Iain M. Banks’s Excession (which I am currently reading), Steven Gillis’s Temporary People (which I hope to get around to reading quite... -
Alec Baldwin: Stylistic Innovator?
Posted on November 19, 2007 | 3 CommentsNovember 18, 2007: “I miss all of the 30 ROCK cast and crew, who I don’t see anymore because of this motherfucking, motherfucking, motherfucking strike.” Well, you have to give... -
“Hira Hira” Was the Original Title of Neil Diamond’s “Holly Holy”
Posted on November 5, 2007 | No CommentsUntranslatable foreign phrases. (via Three Percent) -
The Impotence of Proofreading
Posted on August 10, 2007 | 4 CommentsALSO FROM TAYLOR MALI: “What Teachers Make” and “Like You Know.” Here’s the guy’s website. He also has podcasts. -
With a Dictaphone, You’ll Have a Rambling and Chatty First Draft in About a Week!
Posted on July 6, 2007 | No CommentsBBC: “In the study, women spoke a daily average of 16,215 words during their waking hours, and men 15,669 words.” (via the G-rated Literary Gas) -
“It is actually a very serious matter for finch lovers.”
Posted on May 25, 2007 | 1 CommentOne more finch tweeting post before I go – thanks for having me, Ed! -
Belgian Meritocracy
Posted on May 23, 2007 | No CommentsLadies and gentlemen, the storied sport of finch tweeting. (via the avian dialectologists and comparative Belgianists at Language Log) -
Fighting Words and Writing Words
Posted on May 7, 2007 | No CommentsThe International Journal of Verbal Aggression, featuring such fine studies of a comedian’s response to the heckler and Domino’s Pizza jargon. (Thanks, Sacha!) -
The Abbott and Costello Routine You Didn’t Know About
Posted on January 17, 2007 | 1 CommentThere is a place in Austria called Fucking. More here. (via The Millions) -
Politics and the Culinary Language
Posted on January 17, 2007 | 2 CommentsNew York Times: “And according to [food service industry research firm principal] Tom Miner, ‘The food has to be fast, it has to be handheld, and No. 1 across the... -
“You Have a Good Voice for TV and Radio”
Posted on January 10, 2007 | 3 CommentsWhat American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland “You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” You probably are... -
I Suspect It’s Because of the Sex
Posted on December 15, 2006 | No CommentsYou Should Learn Swedish Fantastisk! You’re laid back about learning a language – and about life in general. Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you… And you won’t even have... -
Lenny Bruce Had a Few Thoughts On This Topic
Posted on October 9, 2006 | No CommentsEditor and Publisher: “Plunging into the debate about the use of the word ‘nigger’ in general-interest newspapers, the Washington Post’s assistant managing editor for copy desks, Don Podesta, is urging... -
Bada-Bing! I’ll Photoshop Your Carpet Bombing Bling After Cross-Training and a Self-Harming Telemeeting With Central Casting
Posted on September 22, 2006 | No CommentsNew words added to the OED! Here’s a full list of the words. In addition, the alphabetical range pleb-Ponak has been added to the New Edition. (via Literary Gas) -
A Sentence As Compelling As “Roam Roam Roam Roam Roam Roam Roam”
Posted on September 22, 2006 | 2 CommentsIs the sentence “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” legitimate? (via Books, Words & Writing) -
I Have No Break But This
Posted on August 21, 2006 | No CommentsA guide to dashes. (via Big Bad Book Blog) -
The Virtues of Continuous Partial Attention?
Posted on August 1, 2006 | No CommentsUniversity of Toronto: “The study finds that instant messaging language does mirror patterns in speech, but that teens, surprisingly, are actually using a fusion of different levels of diction. Teens... -
If By Emergence, You Mean the Greek Word “Chemeia,” Okay. But Don’t Go Calling It a Science.
Posted on August 1, 2006 | No CommentsNew York Times: “Even though they were secretive and self-deluded and their practices closer to magic than modern scientific methods, historians say, alchemists contributed to the emergence of modern chemistry... -
eBullshit
Posted on July 31, 2006 | No CommentsCerado: “In an exclusive e-mail exchange with our editors, the reclusive vowel talks about what he’s been doing since the year 2000, his investment strategy, and his thoughts on whether... -
Cat O’ Nines
Posted on July 24, 2006 | No CommentsStartling! -
Better Than the Hungarian Phrasebook
Posted on June 22, 2006 | No Comments“Spare me my life!” (via Sarah) -
Fuck Yeah
Posted on May 31, 2006 | No CommentsSocial Science Research Network: “This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word fuck. The intersection of the word fuck...