When I was up in Vancouver last week, the city was plastered with signs advertising Douglas Coupland. Except the word attached to his name — Roots — wasn’t a book I was familiar with. Didn’t he just publish Generation A? (another go around at defining a generation, piggybacking on Generation X). But then I figured out […]
BookFox is going to be on a summer break for the next two weeks, since I’m going on some writing retreats. Please visit some of the links in the adjacent columns for your literary fix. Much literary love, Fox
Mentor: A Memoir, by Tom Grimes, is a tribute to a great teacher and writer, an inside dish on Iowa/agents/deals, an anatomy of a mental breakdown, and a tour-de-force through the famous: Marilynne (never Robinson), Mailer (never Norman), Charlie (Charles D’Ambrosio), and Frank (Conroy). It’s such a mesmerizing book I read it in one sitting. […]
There’s a controversy over Dostoevsky murals in a Moscow subway, because some people think they are too depressing and could attract the suicidal. Unfortunately, I read about twenty articles and none of them actually provided the photos, which you would think would be a primary goal of journalism — actually enabling readers to make their […]
The July/August issue of Poets and Writers highlights Ploughshares’ recent move to online submission, but neglects to mention that they started charging $3 for this submission type. I would think that would be pertinent information, especially considering that Ploughshares waives the fee for subscribers, which is an excellent addendum that I haven’t seen in the […]
This is a shake-up — David Ulin, the books section editor at the LA Times, is shifting to a book reviewing role. (And the dark hues and shadows of the photo seem rather noirish, don't you think?) I'm glad that he'll get more chances to write, since his occasional essays are always a delight. And I'm sure […]
The NY Times has a double-pronged review of two books about being wrong — “Being Wrong,” by Kathryn Schulz, and “Wrong,” by David H. Freedman. Dwight Garners writes of Schulze, whom he says wrote the more interesting book: She argues in “Being Wrong” that, of all the things we’re wrong about, our ideas about error […]
Even though J.G. Ballard didn't really wanted his archives preserved, even to the point of lying about their existence, he didn't have the heart to destroy them himself. He could have used some advice from Kafka and Nabakov. Should have burned it all. The Independent has an article and a video. Also, I love how […]
Just wanted to highlight two short story collections coming out this month and in July — if you want to check out some other good reads for the beach (but not "beach reading") look at the LA Times list and NY Times list. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr, published by Scribner From South Africa to […]
The NY Times reports that the New Yorker 20 Under 40 list has come out. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32 Chris Adrian, 39 Daniel Alarcón, 33 David Bezmozgis, 37 Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38 Joshua Ferris, 35 Jonathan Safran Foer, 33 Nell Freudenberger, 35 Rivka Galchen, 34 Nicole Krauss, 35 Yiyun Li, 37 Dinaw Mengestu, 31 Philipp […]
