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)
Satire Archive
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America is In Trouble
Posted on June 23, 2008 | 3 CommentsWith Vonnegut and now Carlin gone, the time has come for truthful lacerations. Words that crackle the delicate hides of prissy and solipsistic dispositions and galvanize the collective funny bone.... -
Satire
Posted on June 2, 2008 | 2 CommentsSo a bunch of “activists” get together and create a hysterical video. These people claim that in 2012, a foreboding date that conveniently matches up with the Mayan calendar, the... -
Edward Champion: The Internet’s Unsung Prophet
Posted on February 24, 2006 | 8 CommentsA popular proverb in LOGO says, “FD 200 BK 300 FD 100.” But sometimes you can simply type in “HOME.” That’s more or less how litblogger Edward Champion feels today,... -
early morning
Posted on December 22, 2005 | 9 Commentsthis morning i had a bowl of cereal it was a big bowl and there were many cornflakes thank you bowl of cereal i talked to noah cicero about the... -
The Return of Cracked Magazine
Posted on October 11, 2005 | 1 CommentRemember Cracked Magazine? It competed with MAD through a good chunk of the 1980s. In fact, many of the artists and writers who wrote for one magazine would regularly jump... -
“Where Are the Litblog Groupies?”
Posted on October 3, 2005 | No CommentsThe last time I went to the bookstore, I produced my business card to the sexy and bespectacled young lady behind the counter shortly after informing her that she had... -
The Continued Collapse of Edward Champion, Part Two
Posted on September 26, 2005 | No CommentsToday, I obtained a Xanax subscription. If the Xanax fails, then I’ll try Trazodone. If the Trazodone fails, I’ll have to resort to stuffing sizable amounts of powdered sugar down... -
After Blog Life
Posted on September 26, 2005 | 8 Comments1 Blog life changes fast. Blog life changes more times than you can change your underwear. You sit down to lunch and you know that there’s a blog awaiting you.... -
A Tour of “Cliterary” Blogs and Websites — XXXVIII
Posted on September 20, 2005 | 2 CommentsThe other day, while bemoaning the fact that my tongue had not touched a clitoris in seventeen years and remembering that my life had become so vapid and meaningless that... -
The Christian Science Monitor: A History of E****** — First Draft
Posted on September 13, 2005 | No CommentsSome scholars have suggested that it all began with a 1749 novel written by John Cleland. The novel’s title was composed of two words: The first being a slightly naughty... -
Music Preview: George Bush, “Exile on Bourbon Street”
Posted on September 2, 2005 | 9 CommentsTRACKLIST 1. Let the Niggers Rot in New Orleans 2. It Might Take Years 3. Don’t Need No Aid 4. It’s Always Time for Vacation 5. Wal-Mart Comes First 6.... -
An Announcement from Apple
Posted on August 30, 2005 | 1 CommentApple Computer is preparing to make an important announcement next week. This announcement will be bigger than all other announcements. It is very important that you pay attention and that... -
Giving Head to a Hot Young Writer: A Special Column by Jay McInerney
Posted on August 29, 2005 | 2 CommentsWe were drinking Stoli and snorting lines off an expensive hooker’s back, discussing a certain young stallion who’d the paper of record had puffed up before and who we had... -
Track List for New Madonna Album
Posted on August 16, 2005 | 2 CommentsThis Used to Be My Stableground Material Hurl Like a Surgeon* Another Broken Bone in Another Hall Who’s That Roan? Beautiful Ranger Don’t Cry for Me Amygdala Goodbye to Medicine... -
Music Review: John Bolton’s “Time, War and Tendinitis”
Posted on August 7, 2005 | No CommentsShortly before being confirmed as United Nations Ambassador, John Bolton once again embraced his musical side with his sixth album, Time, War & Tendinitis, which continues the flatline yet soothing... -
The Interwining Legacy of Things That Inexplicably Scare the Bejesus Out of You and Fiction
Posted on August 3, 2005 | No CommentsWritten just after the author stepped into rush hour traffic and before he dared to look out of his own window before returning to his computer, Ian McEwan’s novel “Saturday”... -
Yes, We’ve Sold Out
Posted on August 1, 2005 | 5 CommentsFinally, one of our esteemed colleagues had the balls to point out the obvious. All this time, while we organized groups to discuss neglected authors, delved into the world of... -
Dalton Trumbo’s Deep Throat
Posted on May 31, 2005 | No CommentsFADE IN: EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. — DAY Several ENSLAVED EX-GOVERNMENT WORKERS, all of them in their nineties, are led by ROMAN CENTURIONS into the Washington Monument. The famed landmark is... -
Cookie Monster Saddened By Recent “Sesame” Sellout
Posted on March 30, 2005 | 5 CommentsWASHINGTON D.C. (AP): This morning, in front of reporters, Cookie Monster revealed shocking allegations that his love for cookies was being curtailed against his will by the producers of Sesame... -
Choose Your Own Adventure from a Freelance Writer’s Perspective
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 7 Comments1. It’s close to seven o’clock. You’ve spent most of the day doing everything in your power to put off deadlines. Now the phone won’t stop ringing as you pound... -
Joe Camp Presents Benjamin the Haunted
Posted on February 25, 2005 | No CommentsUp until Wednesday night, I didn’t believe in the afterlife. However, I was swayed from my skepticism when a Wiccan friend of mine, whom I had met through the personals... -
Excerpt from Jose Canseco’s New Book “Bright Lights, Big Baseball Stadium”
Posted on February 17, 2005 | No CommentsYou can knock any ball out of the park. But you look at your biceps and you see that they’re lacking. You want muscles, the same way that young teenage... -
Neal Stephenson Five Minute Interview
Posted on February 11, 2005 | 1 CommentWe certainly can’t compete with this, but it’s worth noting that back in late fall, Return of the Reluctant coaxed Neal Stephenson into an interview. STEPHENSON: Five minutes, son. Can’t... -
Indecent Proposal 2: No Dollar Left Behind
Posted on January 8, 2005 | No CommentsDirector Adrian Lyne announced that he would be directing a followup to his 1993 film, Indecent Proposal. Robert Redford and Demi Moore have agreed to reappear. Set ten years later,... -
Irvine Welsh’s Pride and Prejudice
Posted on January 3, 2005 | No CommentsThat Darcy bloke won’t give me a fag. Crusty polite little bugger. Hangs out with Bingley sometimes, but the man needs a drink. Several, in fact. I’d like to see... -
A Special Therapeutic Column from Jonathan Glandzen
Posted on November 23, 2004 | 1 CommentIn May 1981, a few months into the Reagan administration, my father and my brother Colin and in fact every member in my family started fighting. They weren’t fighting about... -
Hold the Mayo, Hold the Line
Posted on November 18, 2004 | 2 CommentsExcerpt from “Toto’s Misunderstood Musical Prosody,” thesis paper by Wally Hanthorp, M.A. Music, 1991: “Hold the Line”, a seminal track from Toto’s innovatively titled 1978 album, Toto, represents a rare... -
Literaryland
Posted on November 16, 2004 | 1 CommentLOS ANGELES (AP): In an effort to reach out to a new demographic, the Walt Disney Company announces the introduction of Literaryland, a new section that will be added to... -
In Defense of Fucking the South (And the Red States Too, For That Matter)
Posted on November 13, 2004 | No Comments“In swearing, as a means of expressing anger, potentially noxious energy is converted into a form that renders it comparatively innocuous. By affording the means of working off the surplus... -
Exclusive Excerpt
Posted on September 29, 2004 | No Comments[EDITOR'S NOTE: Return of the Reluctant has obtained an excerpt from Breaking Wind: The Quest for Architectural Hubris in an Age of Terror by noted architect Howard Roark.] Ellsworth wanted...