January 2010
Daily Downloads (Britt Daniel, Justin Townes... →
Shorties (Alice Walker, Nouvelle Vague, and more) →
Vintage Bollywood's "Chin-Chin Choo" →
Contest - Win 4 Ox-Tales Short Story Collections →
Shorties (Ted Leo, J.D. Salinger, and more) →
Daily Downloads (Drive-By Truckers, Mountain... →
Your own personal New York City →
“You are a New Yorker the first time you say, That used to be Munsey’s…” Finally getting around to Colson Whitehead’s The Colossus of New York.
Kate Rusby, "Fare Thee Well" →
Rahimi’s The Patience Stone →
Emma Garman admires Afghan novelist & filmmaker Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone, “a slender, devastating exploration of one woman’s tormented inner life.”
What we owe the dead is the truth →
Joan Schenkar, who is equally engaging in person, explains in a New Yorker live chat how she came to write a biography of Patricia Highsmith.
Shorties (J.D. Salinger, Joey Ramone, and more) →
Book Notes - Jason Bitner ("Cassette From My Ex") →
Free Book Friday: Since It’s Basketball Season…. →
As a lot of folks know, my wife and I are both at George Mason University these days — and semi-regulars at the Patriots’ basketball games. (Go Mason!) And as a few know, I went to
Daily Downloads (Of Montreal, We Are Wolves, and... →
Book Notes - Heidi Durrow ("The Girl Who Fell from... →
Shorties (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Howard Zinn, and... →
Daily Downloads (Drive-By Truckers, Bad Veins, and... →
Largehearted Word Books of the Week - January... →
Edward Said bio incoming →
At last. Edward Said: The Charisma of Criticism, the biography by my friend and former professor H. Aram Veeser, appears next month. See also.
NC Events: Local Authors at Wilmington B&N →
Six authors will headline a “Local Author Festival” this Saturday, January 30, at the Barnes & Noble at Mayfaire Town Center in Wilmington, NC. The free event takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.,…
Atomic Books Comics Preview - January 27th, 2010 →
Shorties (Joanna Newsom, Michael Muhammad Knight,... →
Daily Downloads (Lali Puna, Jack Rose, and more) →
John Lescroart’s “Treasure Hunt” →
AARP: The Magazine has recently asked me to contribute reviews for a couple of books, and I’m thrilled about the opportunity. The first of these pieces was published today: a review of John…
Inspired by Achebe →
“Would anyone possibly buy a novel by an African?” At Salon, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers an appreciation of Chinua Achebe.
Earbrass, LTD: Writers in search of reassignment* →
“First, try to be something, anything, else.” That’s the famous first line of Lorrie Moore’s “How to Become a Writer,” and it’s funny because it’s true. Many writers do focus on another…
Shorties (Midlake, Jessa Crispin, and more) →
Daily Downloads (Radar Brothers, Holly Miranda,... →
Try It Before You Buy It (January 26th, 2010 Music... →
Thomson’s This Party’s Got to Stop →
“My mother spoke to me once after she was dead.” That’s the first sentence of Rupert Thomson’s forthcoming memoir, This Party’s Got to Stop, which I started reading last night and am…
This Week's Interesting Music Releases (January... →
This Week's Interesting DVD Releases (January... →
Shorties (Beach House, Dave Eggers, and more) →
Author Interview: Derek Nikitas →
Derek Nikitas is the author of two novels: Pyres, nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and The Long Division, released last fall to extraordinary reviews. …
Daily Downloads (Music for Haiti Relief, Dios, and... →
Condolences to Edwidge Danticat, whose family has... →
The house that Edwidge Danticat calls home while in Haiti collapsed on and killed her cousin Maxo, who was denied asylum in the U.S. several years ago. (See also.)
2 Down, 50 To Go "Absolute Promethea: Volume 1"... →
Shorties (Wilco, Martin Amis, and more) →
Daily Downloads (Alejandro Escovedo, Justin Townes... →
Contest - Win a Threadless + Griffin iPhone Case... →
Shorties (Magnetic Fields, Allen Ginsberg, and... →
Daily Downloads (My Morning Jacket, Vic Chesnutt,... →
The elderly Norman Mailer →
I’m curious about Dwayne Raymond’s memoir of his friendship with Norman Mailer. See also When Mailer almost profiled Obama.
Against Self-Reliance? →
Should Emerson be ejected from the canon? Two professors say he writes like a crazy person and teaches students to do the same.
Crispin on Gallant →
Mavis Gallant’s heroines “are the awkward, the hopeless, the immature, the ones on the outside of womanhood looking in.”
Bender fiction →
Aimee Bender really knows how to create a mood. A new story, “Faces,” appears in the current (print) Paris Review.
Free Book Friday: “A Reliable Wife” →
What’s better on a cold and rainy weekend than a nice gothic thriller? Yep, that’s what I was thinking. Luckily, I now have TWO copies of Robert Goolrick’s bestselling debut novel, A…
Book Notes - Jason Starr ("The Chill") →
Shorties (Mogwai, Theodore Roethke, and more) →
Daily Downloads (Barton Carroll, Brazos, and more) →