Roundup - Reluctant Habits

As I write these words, I’m up early waiting for the Nobel literature announcement. I’m fully expecting the choice to be somewhat anticlimactic and not an American. But I could be wrong. We’ll find out soon enough.
Tom Christensen offers a list of books most valuable in relation to publishing and writing. Notably absent from the list is the Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. You think I’m joking, but writing’s a pretty damn lonely business sometimes. (via Messr. Junker)
More New Yorker tidbits from Emily Gordon.
Norman Mailer is interviewed about God, which is to say that he suffers delusions of Mailer. (via The Valve)
John Freeman has a surprisingly decent report on the Frankfurt Book Fair.
“This is just a lifelike, likable book populated by three-dimensional characters who make themselves very much at home on the page.” Oh dear. This is the kind of sentence one expects from a Madison Avenue slogan writer, not a literary critic or even a book reviewer. The time has come to make some choices. I’ve had enough of Janet Maslin. I cannot continue to read her nonsense in good faith. I do this because there are too many good things in life to enjoy and, frankly, Maslin’s deterioration as a critic (she was a perfectly fine film critic) is too much for me to bear. Do yourself a favor and give up Maslin too. Your blood pressure will lower in minutes.
Some excerpts from Kurt Cobain interviews. Who knew that Cobain was such a fan of Queen’s News of the World?
Richard Grayson is running for Congress in Arizona.
Linda Richards uncovers a lost silent version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.