I Would Like to Tell You About Else
She could often be found roaming the streets of Berlin, dressed in all the jewelry she owned; she never gave the same year of birth more than once. In all ways and at all times, Else resisted definition.
Essays by Julian Barnes and Janet Malcolm in the New York Review of Books.
All this talk about the future of books (see this week’s excellent FS Book Club, starting here) has me depressed, slightly nauseated, and wondering whether backyard bonfires are legal in this part of Boston. But really, at the risk of seeming preemptively nostalgic in front of a lot of hip people, I’ve been thinking about […]
Roberto Bolaño on Stealing from Bookstores
The New York Review of Books runs an excellent excerpt from the late Roberto Bolaño’s forthcoming book of essays Between Parentheses: Essays, Articles and Speeches (1998 – 2003). In it, Bolaño discusses theft, Camus, and recommending books to dying men (see excerpt below). Between Parentheses will be published by New Directions on March 30.
A week in online reading.
Notes From the Art World: Moving Image: An Art Fair of Contemporary Video
In the first line of her review of the 2011 Armory Show—perhaps New York’s most highly anticipated and infamous art fair—New York Times art critic Roberta Smith makes the claim that “art fairs are for art lovers.” Oh, how I beg to differ, Roberta. There is almost nothing worse for an art lover, in fact, […]
Dispatches from SXSW: Corporate Branding, Social Media, Tasty Food
South by Southwest (SXSW, or more annoyingly, “South by”) has been on for about a week now, but a change is definitely well underway. For one thing, the packs of 20-somethings roving downtown Austin with the kind of unearned self confidence that comes with a festival badge are significantly more attractive as of yesterday (when […]
Melville House Donating All Profits to Japan Disaster Relief
Melville House announced that it will be donating all profits made this week to Japan’s relief efforts. Non-profits that will receive support from the publishing house include Save the Children, GlobalGiving Project, Hands on Tokyo and the American Red Cross. Head to Melville House’s website for more information.
The lore surrounding Hoboes, Vagabonds, Drifters, Rogues, Tramps and Striders excite in us a passion seemingly unmatched by other American itinerants (I’m looking at you, BIRDS). Few are quite as interesting, confusing, and regional as The Leatherman, who kept a precise circuit in the Hudson River area between 1856 to 1889.
The Late American Novel at McNally Jackson
Tonight at 7 PM at McNally Jackson Bookstore C. Max Magee, one of the editors of the excellent The Late American Novel, and a few fine folks who contributed to the book, including The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet author Reif Larson, will be discussing the future of the novel. I will be there, taking […]