I have lost my voice. And while the coughing still irritates (but shows definite signs of abating), this has made me feel delightfully anonymous and humble. I have become more attuned to verbal and visual cues, in part because I cannot respond to them. Socializing feels like facing an incomplete Jumble puzzle in the newspaper, and I do my best to quell these impulses to fill in the blanks. If I had my voice and if I was operating anywhere close to my full energy, I’d do it.

I am wondering if I should keep one of my Moleskines on me and draw funny pictures for people. I feel like a friendly stranger. I divagate through a world often asking me questions and receiving only smiles, woozy shuffling, and raspy whispers as answers. The people at my new neighborhood cafe have been very kind, with the friendly woman leaning in close to hear my order. She seems alarmed to see me out and about. Finding the balance between resting and working has been a challenge. I cannot commit myself to either antipodean variable. In the meantime, I drink enough daily water to rival an ungulate.

I feel compelled to step in here, even when I know I shouldn’t, for a very quick roundup:

• Salon’s Pryia Jain conducts some reporting on what the AMS fallout means for today’s indie publishers. There are quotes from Eli Horowitz and Richard Nash.
• There’s some great stuff over at Colleen’s, along with links to other blogs, including this interview with Eddie Campbell.
• I have little to say about the tone-deaf Hillary Clinton Sopranos finale spoof, except to respond to the ridiculous claim that America is apparently concerned with what Hillary’s campaign song is. Really? More than Iraq? More than the issue of universal health care that Hillary waffled on? More than the lack of a safety net (e.g., welfare to work) or affordable housing? More than the disparity between the rich and the poor? At least the people who cooked up this campaign had the smarts to respond to David Chase’s onion rings symbol, suggesting that Hillary would not represent an interminable cycle of corruption extending to all in the family. But when cultural appropriation, particularly of the clumsy variety, replaces engagement on the issues, I’m troubled by the referential depths that next year’s candidates will sink to in order to woo voters. Lest we forget, homage’s original meaning involved a vassal demonstrating fealty to a lord. What of the Clintons showing some deference to the voters? Is this not what a constitutional republic is all about?
• I hope that the clip is eventually made available online. At his new digs, Jeff VanderMeer reports that Greg Bear was interviewed on The Daily Show.
• David Orr is under attack for allegations concerning his Dana Goodyear essay.

• Frank Wilson on the Michael Gorman brouhaha: “The point of all of this verbiage seems to be to disguise the main worry: that anyone can have access to the information, that gatekeepers are no longer able to keep the gates closed to those they deem unworthy of entrance. It still comes down to the experts know best. Well, read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s the Black Swan: They don’t.” There’s also another factor motivating all this discussion. Since the print vs. online debate began, NYC & Company has been immersed in a veiled uproar. Prospective tourists with a literary bent have been seduced from Midtown hotels by the Magical Basement Tour, a considerably more affordable vacation package for a family of four, now being advertised by the Terre Haute Convention & Visitor Bureau. Never underestimate the correlation between a drop in niche tourism and those cultural gatekeepers who have a modest stake in dictating where people visit during the summer.
• Colleen talks with David Brin.
• Michael Dirda on Kingsley Amis.
• Julia Keller offers a provocative column in which she declares that it’s okay just to like books. I think it’s a mistake to conflate those who love books with those whose livelihoods don’t depend on the publishing industry. There are plenty of book lovers out there who have no interest in becoming a publishing professional, and Klein’s position strikes me as kind of a reverse snobbery. However, I do agree with Keller that appealing to “book likers” is something for every professional to consider, if only because “book likers” eventually might turn into “book lovers.” (via Kevin Smokler)
• Terrible news. Punk Planet Magazine is dead. The book imprint will continue on. For now. Throw some support their way. (via Jeff)
• Tayari Jones on Meredith Hunter and Sam Green’s film on Altamont. Another great novel that dramatizes this incident is Colson Whitehead’s John Henry Days.
• Joseph Duemer offers a few thoughts on why he abandons novels. The last novel I abandoned featured a plotline in which a bald thirtysomething narcissist, resembling a cross between Lex Luthor and Little Baby Huey, moved from San Francisco to New York. I simply wasn’t convinced that the author, who was more fond of tossing around strange and often deranged details rather than addressing his ideas or larger thematic points, really knew his protagonist and I found the narrative extremely unconvincing and quite absurd.
• Hitch on On Chesil Beach.
• It’s a question that will no doubt remain unanswered for some time, but it’s not a bad idea to ask it again: How much information is Google collecting about us? (via Persona Non Data)
• Bill Keller has a leak.
• Maitresse: “In my opinion, it isn’t sufficient for people to only read easy books that reinforce their worldview, because only reading someone like Sophie Kinsella or Meg Cabot does nothing to elevate the general discourse. If everyone is just reading people who talk exactly like they do, people who have exactly the same ideas as they do, the culture will never move forward. They will remain mired in mediocrity.” There are more interesting thoughts on a wide range of subjects (including reading, the current state of criticism, and the possibilities of the Internet) here and here.
• Literago offers a report of the Dennis Loy Johnson-Jessa Crispin discussion. (via Marydell)
• It’s good to hear that Diesel is doing well. (via Bookninja)
• Likely Stories: “If I sound dismissive, it could be simple envy at work. No, I’m not envious that all these dads are in touch with their new role in life – I’m envious that they had the foresight to take notes.”
• Is citation plagiarism an underreported issue?
• John Scalzi explains why he told teens that their writing sucks. Just think what would have occurred if he told them their iTunes playlists sucked. (via Justine Larbalestier)
• As it so happens, web users also like print. While the trees may be falling, it’s good to know that the sky isn’t.
• Miles Johnson asks why there’s no such thing as the Great British Novel.

• Darby Dixon puts Goodreads into proper perspective.
• We’re knights of the round table! We write when we’re able! But does Rushdie push the pram a lot? Meanwhile, Iran quibbles.
• Adam Sandler is attached to a Mitch Albom film project. I cannot imagine a more suitable matchup.
• Ed Park on Kim Stanley Robinson.
• “Why I Hate Anthony” (via Bill Peschel)
• Paul Collins locates a deadly musical instrument.
• Lionel Shriver on Eggers.
• Overlooked or over-hyped?
• The Kerouac scroll is still making the rounds.
• Hitchens here.
• Various novelists on film adaptations.
• Julie Christie is blogging. (via Maxine)
• What we read in previous summers.

• In an effort to cure the nasal drip that will not die, I am currently in a Benadryl haze. I am waiting for the purple rabbits. So please forgive any woozy asides here in the next couple of days.
• As widely reported elsewhere, Per Petterson has taken the IMPAC Award. Whether Petterson plans to use these riches for a campaign to point out James Patterson’s writing inadequacies is anyone’s guess.
• I’ve seen many labels attached to Stephen King, but “gateway drug” is a new one to me.
• Colleen has assembled a master list of authors that can be found making guest appearances on blogs this summer. This is a remarkably helpful resource. There are more authors here than you might expect. (Perhaps it was the Benadryl, but Gwenda has quite rightly pointed out that Colleen’s list is just for next week!)
• Wet Asphalt has offered a passionate post on the criticism vs. reviewing debate, where I’ve been categorized in the House of Commons. That’s fine by me, although I’d be grateful if someone could send me the food stamp application forms.
• M. John Harrison on Eggers.
• Slushpile interviews Matt Diehl.
• Jennifer Weiner has outed herself as the commenter on Paper Cuts, although I would prefer to see Garner engage with more than just “not-entirely-satisfied readers.” Of course, that will happen once the sun goes supernova.
• Levi speaks favorably about On Chesil Beach. While I don’t think it’s McEwan’s best (two of the flashback chapters felt like narrative padding to me), it’s a considerably more focused book than Saturday.
• James Tata has succumbed to Scarlett fever.
• Stephen Fry on Web 2.0. (via Patrick Cates)

• There are fourteen new Segundo podcasts coming, which will include the bounteous audio recorded at APE and BEA. The first two are almost finished.
• Richard Rorty is dead. There are remembrances from Dan Green and Christopher Shea.
• Carlin Romano talks with John Updike, with Updike disturbing a pristine bar within minutes. Who knew that Schweppe’s could set Updike off? There’s also an abruptly engineered 12 minute podcast of the conversation.
• Michael Redhilll gets a bit goofy about Roberto Bolaño.
• Tom Bissell on Ryszard Kapuscinski.
• Tao Lin: “if a novel called the statutory rape of dave eggers by al gore existed there would be less depression and loneliness in the world.”
• Katherine Dunn is guesting at the inferior 4+1. To be clear, “inferior” is part of the name of the site. I need to bounce around like a Java-programmed jumping bean to see what the skinny is on this LiveJournal and can therefore not bandy about a modifier like “inferior” until I’ve examined the goods. All I know is that Dunn is there, and I remain curious if she will ever follow up Geek Love with another novel. These are the things, I suspect, a dutiful reader should put forward to a guest blogger. (via Gwenda)
• Like Howard Junker, I too prefer John O’Hara to Frank.
• Paul Collins on the Biotron.
• Does Will Smith watch Woodstock? And will this prove disastrous as I, Robot? With Akiva Goldman mangling Richard Matheson, I think it’s a sure bet that the Will Smith Adapted Science Fiction Rule will hold: Under no circumstances should one see a science fiction movie adapted from a classic novel starring Will Smith and expect quality results.
• Alcatras Versus the Evil Librarians.
• There aren’t any decent book reviews in the blogosphere, did you say? Check out Colleen’s latest YA column.
• Moonlight Ambulette: “And so he attempts to give this brief reading (the Accompanied Literary Society was somehow involved in the event) but of course it’s this loud, crowded room and no one is listening. Well, like 12 of us are listening. In the middle of rock bands! What a thing to do to a writer! So he reads about half a page from Wake Up, Sir, before he gives up and says, ‘You know what? Why doesn’t someone just come up here and paddle me with my own book? That would be less painful.’ And so someone does! A sunglasses-wearing lady appears out of no where and gleefully thwacks Jonathan Ames on the bottom with his own hardcover book. Again and again and again. And then she lets him spank her with the book, too.” Between boxing a much younger, albeit physically inept writer and attempting to read between bands (should he not know better in both cases?), I’m wondering what’s going on in Mr. Ames’ mind these days. (via Matthew Tiffany)
• So here’s the question. Why weren’t podcasts represented in this panel?
• Canadian author Rebecca Eckler is suing Judd Apatow for certain similarities between her book and Knocked Up. Apparently, both Eckler’s book and Apatow’s film contained a small appearance by Harold Ramis. Eckler has insisted that Ramis is funnier in Canada, despite the fact that Ramis was born in Chicago. Apatow has countered, pointing out that there have been several enjoyable mainstream comedies directed by Ramis in America and that Eckler needs to understand that Canadians often come to America in search of more fame and cash, and that this often comes at the expense of their edge. Ramis, thus far, has said nothing. We shall see how this all unfolds. (via Big Bad Book)
• 100 Words That All High School Graduates Should Know. Dream a little dream.
• The Shyness Reading List. (via Books, Words and Writing)
• And the latest print hit piece on blogs? Joe Klein.
• RIP Michael Hamburger.
• Neil Gaiman on H.G. Wells.