- Word on the street is that Harper Lee has written something for Oprah. This is the second essay that she’s written in 40 years, which makes one Harper Lee essay every twenty years. Maybe we might get another out of Lee if she lives another twenty years. But I think the workaround here is to cryogenically freeze Harper Lee and have her wake up a century now, only to extract the mandatory five essays she owes us. (via Bookslut)
- Maud unfurls an interesting Borges-Pynchon connection.
- I have a grand temptation to cover this. Of course, if all the purported “experts” are as clueless as Tee Morris, then it might be safe to say that the Dummies books are the publishing industry’s answer to Wikipedia.
- Pete Anderson happily reports that he’s received 100 rejections for his stories and speculates upon the reasons why.
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez can’t get his hometown renamed to Macondo.
- After four attempts, Roger McDonald has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
- Nearly 150 years later, the remains of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s wife will finally be moved next to her spouse. Eminent domain’s a bitch, ain’t it?
- Ed Guthmann talks with Dhanvant Shanghvi.
- Jeff VanderMeer may be suffering a fate worse than a DVD selection consisting solely of Uwe Boll’s oeuvre: he can’t leave New Hampshire.
- James Wood apparently reviewed Terrorist at The New Republic, but I’ll be damned if I can read the article. (Thank you for your HTML incompetence, TNR!) Does anyone have a working link?
- “Primo Levi and Translation” (via ReadySteadyBook)
- Lionel Shriver on immigration, with some cogent objections from Laila.
- Harry Potter to die in Book 7? Pop open the champagne. (via Bookninja)
- Frank Wilson, book review editor of The Philly Inquirer, offers some interesting thoughts on the whole print vs. online media debate. Like Bud, I have to say that it’s good to see someone in print media offering a more nuanced take over the standard “newspapers are gatekeepers/bloggers are upstarts” argument that guys like Tanenhaus and Freeman frequently resort to.
- Dave Munger on why he won’t go to the movies anymore.
- For those who missed the BEA speech in podcast form, the text of his speech is now available, which sends Levi Asher into an uproar.
- The best advice to a writer juggling exercise and a day job? Lots of exercise.
The I’m Catching Up on News You’ve Probably Read Already Roundup
– June 27, 2006Posted in: Uncategorized
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. (
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.
I’m encouraged by the Potter rumor, as well. But given all the sorcery going on in Rowlings’ oeuvre, she could easily reincarnate him in the future–especially at the best of her frantic publishers should they happen to see her post-Potter releases coming falling short of the 10 million sales mark.
“Dammit, Jo, resuscitate! Resuscitate!”
Ed, for TNR you have to register and login and THEN open the review link. Otherwise you get a blank page. Create an account and you should be able to see it.
i would like to point out that Gabriel Garcia Marquez had nothing to do with the attempted name change of his home town. I have no further information than that which is contained in the article. I admire Marquez as much for his writing prowess as for his integrity. Lobbying to get Aracataca changed to Macondo would be an odious move, wouldn’t it?
Anyone reading Gravity’s Rainbow can spot the other Borges shout-out: the major character Katje Borgesius.