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Literary wagering
In The Bookseller Katie Allen reports that in the UK Up to £500k spent on literary bets each year, as: Increasingly, the run-up to any books prize announcement from the Man Booker to the Orange and the Royal Society Prize for Science...Show More Summary
Reviewing sexism at the NYT(BR) ?
At Slate's DoubleX they check out: 'Is the New York Times' book section really a boys' club ?' (meaning, actually, the two editorially separate sections: the daily edition, as well as the Sam Tanehaus-(foreign-fiction-avoiding)-led The...Show More Summary
Philosophy Weekend: Peter Singer, J. M. Coetzee and Animal Ethics
J. M. Coetzee and Ethics: Philosophical Perspectives on Literature, a book of essays compiled by Anton Leist and Peter Singer, presents itself as a general overview of philosophical themes -- morality, semiotics -- in the work of the great South African novelist J. Show More Summary
Links & Reviews
- Looks like there's going to be quite a big auction this week in Worcester, where the estate of Andrew Haswell Green will be up for sale in a four-day bidding extravaganza. The Globe previews the sale(s) today, and you can browse the catalogs here. Show More Summary
(Online) writing in ... China
In China Daily Liu Wei surveys the online-writing and publishing scene in China, in Between the lines -- noting that: However, disputes over whether works published online have any literary merit at all continue. Most criticisms areShow More Summary
Sarah Joseph appreciation
Malayalam-writing Sarah Joseph's Othappu recently won the Crossword Award for translation, and in The Hindu's Literary Review G.S.Jayasree offers an appreciation, Crossing the threshold. See also the Oxford University Press publicity page for Othappu, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Mountain Echoes literary festival
Also in The Hindu's Literary Review, Urvashi Butalia writes about the recent 'first ever literary festival Mountain Echoes' in Bhutan, in Words hold centrestage.
BookFest@Malaysia
BookFest@Malaysia 2010 runs 4 to 12 September; at The Star Martin Vengadesan offers an overview, in Buffet of books.
Famine and Foreigners review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Peter Gill's Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid.
Money Getting, Part XVII
A Verse Digest of P. T. Barnum’s The Art of Money Getting (1880) ============ BEWARE OF “OUTSIDE OPERATIONS” we see men who have fortunes become poor his arises from intemperance, from gaming and other bad habits because a man has engaged in outside operations he gets rich in legitimate business he is told of a grand speculation he is constantly flattered by friends he is born [...]
Some Good Fantasy Short Stories Online
I tried to leave a comment over at Torque Control, but filled it with links, so I expect it disappeared into a spam filter. Easy enough to post here. A commenter, Saladin Ahmed, asked for suggestions of fantasy short stories, preferably under 3,000 words, that might make a good addition to an undergraduate course on writing fantasy. Show More Summary
A Friend Like Henry : Nuala Gardner
Image Credit: Dogwise Yippee!! Hooray!!! Drum roll, please!! I finished! I finished! I finished Nuala Gardner's A Friend Like Henry! I can't describe how relieved I am. That book was just sitting here in my room, on my bed, on my table, day after day, month after month. Show More Summary
This Week's Acquisitions
Here's what arrived this week: - A trio by Jeff VanderMeer: Shriek: An Afterword (Tor, 2007); Finch (Underland Press, 2009); and The Third Bear (Tachyon, 2010). Amazon. - A Gentleman as Well as a Whig: Caesar Rodney and the American Revolution by Jane Scott (University of Delaware Press, 2000. Show More Summary
German Book Prize lowdown
At her love german books weblog Katy Derbyshire offers her "now traditional lowdown on the German Book Prize longlist", a useful overview of the twenty titles, complete with the "Teenage Girl Factor" of each title, as well as whether or not (usually whether) there is a "Foreign/Village Setting".
Madame Bovary and Playboy
Lydia Davis' translation of Madame Bovary is due out soon (pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), and it was recently excerpted in Playboy -- leading John Lichfield to report on How Madame Bovary became a Bunny Girl (atShow More Summary
Here Comes the Story of the Hurricane
Yesterday, crossing campus at lunchtime, I found myself caught in a storm. A few minutes later, drying off at a corner table with a toasted “everything” bagel (”everything,” by the way, is a bit of an over-promise) and a coffee, I started jotting down rain-related notes. For poetry, I thought of Lord Bowen, whose “The [...]
A Note on Links
I think I might have confused some readers, as I've started placing links to articles mentioned in my posts at the bottom of the post, instead of embedding them in per regular Internet practices. Reason is, perhaps the most compelling...Show More Summary
More Essays by Milan
There are two absolutely brilliant appreciations, one on the writer Anatole France and another on the composer Leos Janacek, that are alone worth the price of the book. There are also a number of graceful if perfunctory book reviews,...Show More Summary
Links: Welcome! You’ve Got Weltschmerz!
Jonathan Franzen: “And AOL’s little box—the welcome screen, they call it, I guess—is so infuriating in its dopiness: ‘Surprising Leader In The Masters! Find Out Who!’ ‘Ten Things To Think About When Choosing A Hotel!’ ‘What Smart Travelers Know About … Continue reading ?
Bernhard’s Prose
I have a review of Prose by Thomas Bernhard at The National. Hard to believe this is the first English publication of Bernhard’s 1967 collection of short stories, but there you have it. It’s a great read, as are most of Bernhard’s that I’ve read. Links My review of Prose by Thomas Bernhard in The National
- Open Letters Monthly
- New York Times Book Review
- Jonathan Franzen
- The Quarterly Conversation
- Don DeLillo
- David Markson
- The Secret History
- Public Library
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Chronicle of Higher Education
- Reality Hunger
- Joyce Carol Oates
- Science Fiction
- Barry Hannah
- Tom McCarthy
- Publishers Weekly
- David Foster Wallace
- Edith Grossman
- Sam Lipsyte
