Carrie’s tackled the underappreciated and the disappointments of the year. I’d like to raise her with an oldie but goodie approach. What authors did you read or “discover” for the first time this year? Feel free to name authors, contemporary or classic. (My own 2004 list includes Paula Fox, Lawrence Durrell, Eric Kraft, Flann O’Brien and David Mitchell — all of whom blew me away: Fox, for her incredibly crisp and compact poetry; Durrell, whose poetic ambition is truly sui generis; Kraft, for so poignantly merging Proust with middle American eccentrics; O’Brien, whose postmodern approach is so casual and beautifully goofy that I’m almost tempted to send huge stacks of The Third Policeman to McSweeney’s headquarters for their consideration; and Mitchell, for too many reasons.)

But never mind me. Who are yours? Comment away!

• Ron points out how Laura Miller cannibalized a NYT piece for Salon.
• Colm Toibin covers Booker winner The Line of Beauty for the NYRoB. His conclusion? Style over substance and an opportunity to play the “I knew Henry James and worked with him. You’re no Henry James” card.
• This should please (and probably not surprise) Sarah. Mysteries are the most sought after fiction by library patrons. Some patrons have tried wearing trenchcoats to stave off overdue fees, hoping that this sartorial hint might make some of the librarians smile. But the librarians have proven just as martinet-minded in their obsessions as the readers.
• Not enough that, by all reports, Crichton’s State of Fear is an outright bad novel, but it may very well be designed for the red states as well. So says George Will.
• Christopher Hitchens weighs in on Sontag. Believe it or not, it’s not a Mother Theresa style takedown piece at all, but a quite balanced article. Apparently, someone took the bottle away from Hitch just as he began writing.
• What are the hot books for 2005? This is London says everyone will go ga-ga over 20 year old Helen Oyeyemi, whose debut novel The Icarus Girl comes out this year. Well, only if it has sex confessionals and Leon Wieseltier manages to get his hands on it.
• Also, if you’re interested in helping out the poor folks off the Indian Ocean, check out Tsunami Help, a blog devoted to philanthropy. (via Hurree

Damn. Double damn.

Some Sontag resources:

WRITINGS:

• Susan Sontag’s famous essay on camp.
• “Against Interpretation”
• One of her last great essays, “Regarding the Torture of Others.”
• “Real Battles and Empty Metaphors”
• Excerpt from Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors.

INTERVIEWS:

• Interview with Elizabeth Farnsworth.
• Sontag & Moyers.
• Audio interview with BBC Four.
• Against Postmodernism: an 2000 interview.
• Australian radio interview. (2/6/2000)

OTHER WORDS/LECTURES:

• Her words after 9/11.
• Lecture, April 24, 1989
• “Literature is Freedom”, October 28, 2003 speech.
• “The Power of Principle” speech (2003)
• Overview with emphasis on early days.

It’s slim pickens on the literary news front. For obvious reasons. But we’ll see what we can do:

• The latest addition to the bookstore? Day care.
• Birmingham, AL is more literate than New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Alas, not even Birmingham could beat San Francisco. For those who missed the survey, here are the results.
• Apparently, it was a good year for Canadian writers. Perhaps a little of that edumucation and social program stuff up north might have something to do with it?
• There’s also a books quiz at the Observer, for those interested.
• Gray Lady. Manga! Gray Lady.
• Christianity Today names the best books of the year. Believe it or not, Markson made the list.
• NPR remembers the writers who passed on this year.
• And yes, folks, it’s official. Sales of consumer electronics surpassed book sales for the first time.

A recent New York survey found that Barnes & Noble was the best place to get a date. Together with the 98% Democratic PAC figures and expanded wi-fi access, it looks like B&N is on its way to becoming the new black. At least as chain store behemoths go. The big question here is how can indie book stores compete on the, er, hooking up angle.

(via GalleyCat)