Happy Birthday to me. Or, well, BookFox. I’ve come so far from that fateful first post about meeting Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s been three wonderful years, and I’m so glad to get through the terrible twos. Thanks to my faithful readers, and may there be much more literary fun to come.
Tin House just put out a collection of essays with writers on writing, called The Writer’s Notebook. Many essays came from the Tin House Writing Workshops, and some were gleaned from elsewhere. Brilliant stuff, and not at all the hackneyed tired advice you find in so many writing books. For instance, I really appreciated Aimee […]
The economic trickle down has started to affect an area of publishing where monies are usually scarce to begin with: The Literary Journal. Inside Higher Ed announced that Middlebury College is demanding that the New England Review become financially independent. Jacket Copy covers the story, and at the VQR blog, Ted Genoways argues for the […]
Joseph O’Neill (Netherland) ostensibly reviews Brad Gooch’s biography about Flannery O’Connor in the June issue of Atlantic Monthly, but really gives us an thoughtful essay about O’Connor and O’Neill’s responses to her work. His main thrust is that O’Connor received fame early — she never eked out an existence as a struggling writer — yet […]
Over at the Times Literary Supplement, there’s a detailed article about the Norse mythology that gave rise to Tolkien’s latest (last?) book published by his son Christopher Tolkien. “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” is all poetry — don’t miss that crucial detail. And it fills in a mysterious gap in the Nibelung legend. Here’s […]
I have gone to the dark side. I am now twittering. And sending tweets. And feeling twitterific. And any other coinage/catachresis you’d like to apply. Look for me under bookfox. Now that I’m done with my cross-platform promotion, time for some serious analyzing of this new medium. My biggest problem with text-messaging and twittering is […]
Usually I’m against the coronation of certain days or months as special celebrations of whatever, because by now, I’m sure every day of the year has some kind of movement associated with it. May 5th: Salamander Day. June: Bowler Hat Month. (okay, so I made those ones up) But when it comes to short stories, […]
Hello BookFox Readers, I’m on a week-long writing retreat up in Northern California. In my absence, please enjoy some of the links in the sidebars.
Although I’m a huge March Madness fan, I get tired of sportscasters stating the obvious and making ridiculous puns about English-major players putting “English” on the basketball. If you want more sophisticated March Madness commentary, you need to check out the following five books. Your friends might be able to rattle off the rebound stats […]
Commonweal has a podcast interview with Nigerian Jesuit Uwem Akpan, who wrote the debut story collection “Say You’re One of Them.” Speaking of audio interviews, Victoria Lautman in Chicago has stockpiled a number of interviews and is interviewing Mary Gaitskill today about her latest book. The Globe and Mail onhealthy medication no prescription highlights very […]
