When arguing for the importance and relevance of physical books in “The Case for Books,” Robert Darnton mentions smell as a factor: “Books also give off special smells. According to a recent survey of French students, 43 percent consider smell to be one of the most important qualities of printed books—so important that they resist […]
First: Who decided to give a melancholy book called “Nocturnes” a bright white cover? Check out the British cover — much more evocative. But aside from quibbles over cover art, I enjoyed Ishiguro’s latest very much. Slow, stately prose reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri, and highly readable. Also, “Nocturnes” holds together remarkably well. In fact, almost […]
Thank God for bookies. While literary prognosticators give us wet dreams of lit crushes, bookies give us good old numeric odds, backed up by hard cash. Not that they usually know what they're doing (see: last year. J.M.G. Le Clezio, 14 to 1 odds — and when Harold Pinter won, he wasn't even in the […]
Okay, so let's get the order of events correct. First, Cliff at Perpetual Folly tipped me off to Evanston Now, a local online news source in the Northwestern area (where TriQuarterly is published). Evanston Now reported that the Northwestern University Press, which publishes TriQuarterly, would be scaling back a number of its operations. Mentioned in […]
So the National Book Award is taking a page from the Man Booker Prize by deciding to do a “Best of the National Book Award.” It’s not much more than a stunt to draw attention to the prize, and of course the winner takes nothing but popular acclaim, but who are we to complain? Contests […]
Is Oprah’s selection of Uwem’s Akpan’s “Say You’re One of Them” surprising? Yes, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Oprah’s picked books with cannibalism of children, incest, autistic-child love stories, hermaphrodites, and pretty much any other theme or style or length you could imagine. So the fact that she’s finally selected a short story collection (yes!), […]
Go to The Rumpus and check out my review of Irvine Welsh’s “Reheated Cabbage.” It’s a short story collection in high Trainspotting form — drugs, lowlife characters, and humor. PS. The rat on the dust jacket is likely a metaphorical depiction of one or several characters. Here’s the opening: The unappetizing title of Reheated Cabbage, […]
I’m a bit surprised at the book reviews of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” — everybody’s handling it with kid gloves. Towards the end of say, the LA Times and NY Times reviews, there’s a few lines of condescension, but as though they had been slipped in. The B&N Review by Sarah Weinman spends most […]
I’m back! And alive and kicking. Thanks for all the kind emails. So the Man Booker Shortlist was announced. A S Byatt — “The Children’s Book” J M Coetzee — “Summertime” Adam Foulds — “The Quickening Maze” Hilary Mantel — “Wolf Hall” Simon Mawer — “The Glass Room” Sarah Waters — “The Little Stranger” And […]
So my appendix all acted up on me rather suddenly, and I’m sprawled out over various couches and beds in my apartment, recovering from some small incisions round about my bellybutton that don’t feel too small. Guess what? Morphine + Vicodin make hashwork of Marianne Wiggins and Wendell Berry. My eyes glazed over after a […]
