Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
Reading Archive
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Books Banned on Flights: An Inconsistent Policy
Posted on August 11, 2006 | 4 CommentsBooksquare points to this LA Times article about LAX passengers traveling to London having to check in their laptops and shifting to reading books in the process. But the folks... -
Tanenhaus Actually Gets It Right for Once
Posted on August 9, 2006 | 3 CommentsCould it be? Joe Queenan has temporarily put away the hatchet (and the hubris)? Well, it’s true. And Sam Tanenhaus is (wait for it) to be commended for not only... -
Ed’s Punkass Three Foot Shelf
Posted on August 7, 2006 | 1 CommentMark compiled a three foot shelf reading list, based on books he’s seen written up by James Wood. I think this is great idea and that it can also be... -
Meme
Posted on August 2, 2006 | 4 CommentsFrom Kate’s Book Blog: One book that changed your life: Lexus, Sexus and Nexus by Henry Miller. I read The Rosy Crucifixion when I was 23 and this trilogy, perused... -
Reading for Fun: An Unfulfilled Potential?
Posted on June 15, 2006 | 4 CommentsThe Book Standard has uncovered the latest Kids and Family Reading Report conducted by Yankelovich and Scholastic. 92% of kids enjoy reading for fun. 90% of kids also say that... -
I’d Be Safe and Warm If I Was Readin’ in L.A.
Posted on May 8, 2006 | No CommentsDana Gioia: “Los Angeles, the city of Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury and Octavia Butler, is now the biggest book market in North America. And, as a recent survey by the... -
The Key Problem: The List Was Unaccompanies with Instructions on HOW to Read the Books Aloud!
Posted on May 8, 2006 | No CommentsJacqueline Wilson notes ten books to read aloud to children. Amazingly, Trout, Petits Fours (Delaware Style) and Other Regional Delicacies for the Avid Traveler (1998 edition), published by the Brandywine... -
Latest Reading Meme
Posted on April 19, 2006 | 3 CommentsContinuing the meme (apparently originated by Patricia): Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you... -
It’s Not Exactly Like We’re Reading Laurell K. Hamilton
Posted on February 28, 2006 | 1 CommentKevin Kinsella offers an anecdote that represents a type of experience I’ve encountered far too many times myself. Except in my case, it’s generally bankers, lawyers, doctors and other “educated”... -
Where Everybody Reads Your Name
Posted on January 20, 2006 | No CommentsA Bookbar! So do they serve paperbacks during happy hour? (via Booklust) -
The Sony Passive Reader
Posted on January 7, 2006 | No CommentsThe new Sony Reader looks spiffy, but I have my doubts. You see, the Reader here is not paper, meaning that no pages can be flipped, folded over, ripped out... -
75 Book Challenge
Posted on January 2, 2006 | 25 CommentsI’ll see your 50 books and raise you twenty-five. Seventy-five books, folks. I’ll be reading 75. Who’s with me? [UPDATE: Tayari Jones has some very good guidelines about what to... -
How Big of a Literary Geek Are You?
Posted on November 18, 2005 | 3 CommentsNew meme. Bold the titles. You know the drill. (via this guy) Here goes: 1. The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams 2. Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell... -
Undergraduate Authors
Posted on November 15, 2005 | No CommentsDavid Hudson passes along this list of books that notables fell in love with in college. While Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s plaudits for Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead are preposterously... -
To Read the Impossible Book
Posted on November 5, 2005 | No CommentsWorthy of the 400 Windmills? Who can say? But Isabella’s thoughts on reading Don Quixote for the first time certainly recall mine. If you have somehow managed to go through... -
Men Who Read Magazines: Easily Bored or More Complicated?
Posted on October 31, 2005 | 1 CommentBusinessWeek reports that men aren’t reading magazines the way they used to. I’m going to suggest something radical: Could it be that men are more complicated than the current lad... -
Powell’s — Another Outlet Promoting Online Classism?
Posted on October 27, 2005 | 6 CommentsWhat M.A.O. said. Dave Weich can keep living in a glass tower as long he wants. But to take on the attitude that one must have a credit card in... -
Slow Reader
Posted on October 23, 2005 | 7 CommentsHow Fast Do You Read?: “You read between 350-400 words per minute. Well above average reading level. (The average rate is between 200 – 250 words per minute.) It is... -
A Case for the Larger Canvas
Posted on August 23, 2005 | 2 CommentsToday, the New York Times noted the arrival of Paul Anderson’s debut novel, Hunger’s Brides, commenting upon its 1,360 page length rather than a more important attribute to gauge —... -
The “We Battled Insomnia with Gin Last Night and the Gin Won, But Heaven Help the Fallout” Roundup
Posted on August 17, 2005 | No CommentsThe fantastic Carrie Frye points to the Word Nerds, a podcast devoted to “the effect of Internet communication” and various language-related issues. I’ll definitely be checking it out, as soon... -
Et Tu, Posh Spice!
Posted on August 16, 2005 | 2 CommentsIt’s doubtful that any well-adjusted (one might argue: regular) person would expect either a meaty anecdote, much less a bon mot from one-time Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. But I happen... -
Reading Habits, Technology and the Hypothetical Rise of the Short
Posted on August 5, 2005 | No CommentsIt was worth ruining my eyes To know I could still keep cool, And deal out the old right hook To dirty dogs twice my size. — Philip Larkin, “A... -
TBR
Posted on April 29, 2005 | 7 CommentsSince some of you asked… (Note: Some of these are rereads.) Okay, I’m officially out of here. -
A Book A Day, That’s All We Ask
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 5 CommentsRick Gekoski’s idea of bliss involves reading a book a day. He’s a Man Booker judge for 2005. And with 130 titles to read in five or six months, the... -
We Get the Same Way After A Bit of Whiskey
Posted on March 29, 2005 | No CommentsUlrich Baer has written to the Rake with a lengthy essay about the creation of his book, The Wisdom of Rilke: “My process of translation involves a lot of reading... -
How to Read When the Power Goes Off
Posted on March 27, 2005 | 1 CommentLast night, at Chateau Mabuse, the power went off. We were sorry to see our pages on the computer lost into the ether. But this did, nevertheless, lead us to... -
Thin-Slicing Fiction
Posted on February 13, 2005 | No CommentsMalcolm Gladwell‘s Blink isn’t as satisfying as The Tipping Point — in part, because Gladwell’s tendency to generalize is more prominent this time around. (Case in point: We’re supposed to... -
The Romance of Reading Glasses
Posted on February 11, 2005 | No CommentsIt’s not enough for Andrea Levy to win the Orange and the Whitbread. She’s just been nominated for a third award: the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Normally, we... -
No Reading Statistic Left Behind
Posted on January 11, 2005 | 2 CommentsSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Gov. Jeb Bush wants to increase spending on reading by $43 million this year and make reading money a permanent part of Florida’s public school budget.” Hey,... -
I Hear Voices Too
Posted on January 11, 2005 | No CommentsSarah’s put up a thoughtful post regarding hearing voices when she reads. I can relate to this because, although my own inner ear parses text differently, I sympathize with the...