November 7, 2006
Short Takes
The-chicken-or-the-egg question of the book world. I love that two artists picked Dostoyevsky to work with (via Conversational Reading). Emma Thompson: I think that female comedy is completely different in […]
November 5, 2006
Short Takes
In case you missed it: KR Blog sits down with Marisha Pessl (Part I and Part II). Parents who engage in the age-old tradition of picture-book reading are not only […]
November 5, 2006
A Conversation with Marisha Pessl, Part II
As promised, the second part of my conversation with Marisha Pessl (the first part is here). After talking a bit about her book, Marisha walks me through the process of […]
November 4, 2006
A Minor Poet
The term is somewhat deceptive, for to be a minor poet is a major achievement. How few there are, among poets, who create something sufficiently memorable to be read through […]
November 4, 2006
A Conversation with Marisha Pessl, Part I
I met Marisha Pessl last month at 192 Books, where she read from her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Because she was so gracious in fielding the questions […]
November 3, 2006
Short Takes
With more than a million of Madonna’s five children’s books sold since 2003, and the latest installment, The English Roses: Too Good to Be True, flying off the shelves on […]
November 2, 2006
Short Takes
RIP William Styron; The Elegant Variation has an assortment of Styron-related links. At first glance, The Sunset Limited, one of Cormac McCarthy’s unfortunately rare forays into theater, appears to be […]
November 1, 2006
Absence Makes the Writing Grow Fonder
As a bright November morning morphed into a hailing, freezing, wintery afternoon, I was reminded of a bit from “California,” a light-hearted essay by Jess Lacher, which describes Ohio weather […]
November 1, 2006
Short Takes
Happy NaNoWriMo! Instead of letting reviewers get on with their job of reviewing, publishers are behaving like anxious children, pulling at the journalist’s sleeve and suggesting what should come next. […]
October 31, 2006
Foot Fetishes and Verse Forms
However exhausting or demoralizing writing may be at times–when the pen makes contact with the page (or the fingers with the keyboard) and nothing happens–it often feels better to be […]
October 31, 2006
Openings
Sadly, the day finally came last year when my son’s standard opening for all his reports and essays was edited out by one of the sixth-grade teachers. Hello. My name […]
October 31, 2006
Short Takes
“They call me naughty Lola. Run-of-the-mill beardy physicist (M, 46).” (Hat tip to Andrew) And how much of a music dork are you (parts one, two, and three)? Sam Tanenhaus […]