One: Two pieces on the late J.G. Ballard: the first, an appreciation from Martin Amis, comes via Nick Antosca; the other is a 1996 interview with Ballard appearing now on HTML Giant. (An earlier Amis piece on Ballard is collected in Visiting Mrs. Nabokov, and comes highly recommended.) Two: Shane Jones and Blake Butler, in … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Books
Me @ Volume 1- Coming Soon to a Lower East Side Near You*
- Afternoon Bites: Chris Andrews on translation, Hot Lit Mags, James Sturm on Jack Kirby, and more
- Notes on Quentin Rowan, Yeti, and Bits of Spy Novels
- Reviewed: “Sister Stop Breathing” by Chiara Barzini
- Afternoon Bites: William S. Burroughs in pop culture, “Angelmaker” gets a trailer , 90s hardcore and Skrillex, and more
May 5, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis
Reading on Reading: 5 May 2009
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis
March 9, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: AM/PM, Amelia Gray, Books
notes, briefly, on ‘am/pm’
Categories: Book Review, BooksTags:: AM/PM, Amelia Gray, Books
I’ve just finished Amelia Gray‘s AM/PM. The spine lists it as “a book by Amelia Gray”, and that, rather than “stories by”, sounds about right: it’s composed of just over a hundred works of flash fiction, many of which share characters, and is structured in such a way to provide a fair amount of emotional … Continue reading
February 27, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Kindle
notes on farhad manjoo’s notes on the kindle
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, Kindle
At Slate, Farhad Manjoo examines the new version of the Kindle, and comes up with one of the best metaphors to describe what is, perhaps, its largest stumbling block: Say Barnes & Noble signed a deal to sell the next Twilight book at a huge discount. But with a catch—the book would be published in … Continue reading
February 25, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Michael Hemmingson, Raymond Carver
notes on narrative versions
Categories: Books, FilmTags:: Books, Michael Hemmingson, Raymond Carver
Earlier this week, I wrote about alternate versions of narrative works — novels and films, to be more specific. Michael Hemmingson posted a response regarding the Raymond Carver question: The unedited carver book, BEGINNERS, will be out in october in the UK from Jonathan Cape. In August, the Library of America will publish a 900 … Continue reading
February 24, 2009, Author: , 1 Comment
Tags:: Books, Fiction, Nonfiction
notes on wording + technology
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, Fiction, Nonfiction
Earlier this week, I read something on Andrew Sullivan’s blog that reminded me of John Siracusa’s piece on electronic reading devices, referenced earlier this month. In a post entitled “The End of Permanence”, Sullivan argued that an advantage to the digital distribution of books is the ability to constantly revise and update information. I’m more … Continue reading
February 23, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: achewood, Books, chris onstad, doktor sleepless, graphic novels, Warren Ellis
book reviews. (new ones.)
Categories: Book Review, BooksTags:: achewood, Books, chris onstad, doktor sleepless, graphic novels, Warren Ellis
Two new reviews up at Lit Mob as of today: Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight by Chris Onstad, and Doktor Sleepless: Engines of Desire by Warren Ellis and Ivan Rodriguez. I’ll have some thoughts in this space later this week on Doktor Sleepless‘s run since then.
February 5, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Nick Antosca, Tao Lin
in which tao lin and nick antosca talk writing
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, Nick Antosca, Tao Lin
I’ve already rambled a bit about Nick Antosca’s Midnight Picnic, one of the most memorably unsettling books I’ve read in a while. At MobyLives, Tao Lin interviewed Antosca; their conversation heads into Antosca’s writing process and covers pretty much everything novel-length he’s written. Particularly of interest is how Midnight Picnic was written and how some … Continue reading
February 4, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Jan Elizabeth Watson, Simon Reynolds, Tin House, Warren Ellis, zines
Links: 02.04.2009
Categories: Books, Culture, Design, MusicTags:: Books, Jan Elizabeth Watson, Simon Reynolds, Tin House, Warren Ellis, zines
One: Asta In the Wings author Jan Elizabeth Watson assembles a playlist for Largehearted Boy. Two: Simon Reynolds on zines. [via Warren Ellis] Three: John Siracusa on digital publishing. [via The Book Oven] This last one merits some qualification, as I don’t agree with all of Siracusa’s conclusions or his central metaphor. (There was a … Continue reading
February 1, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Edward Champion, Washington Post
assorted notes on newspaper coverage, technology, and the selling of books
Categories: Book Review, BooksTags:: Books, Edward Champion, Washington Post
Couple of random links that I think dovetail interestingly, beginning with the announcement of the closure of the Washington Post‘s Book World section. As it happens, Book World never garnered much advertising from publishers, who generally spend very little on newspaper ads. Publishers now focus their marketing dollars on cooperative agreements with chain bookstores, which … Continue reading
February 1, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, George Saunders, html giant
In which HTML Giant examines George Saunders
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, George Saunders, html giant
At HTML Giant, Justin Taylor looks at the work of George Saunders via his short story “Al Roosten”. Is George Saunders the most radical fiction writer writing in the mainstream today? Or to put it a possibly better way, is Saunders the most mainstream of today’s radical fiction writers? A damn good piece on a … Continue reading
January 26, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, reading
reading on reading: camping out
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, reading
Following last week’s post on Paper Camp, The Book Oven has an interesting writeup on Book Camp London, held a week and change ago. Makes an interesting counterpoint to the Lev Grossman future-of-publishing piece that appeared in Time last week, I’d say, encompassing some of the same issues but from a different perspective.
January 23, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: Books, Paper Hero Press, publishing, Sam Fink
winner: most memorable book title
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, Paper Hero Press, publishing, Sam Fink
Sam Fink’s I Am Going to Clone Myself Then Kill the Clone and Eat It. I know nothing about this book, but I’m very tempted to send Paper Hero Press twelve dollars right now.
January 22, 2009, Author: , 1 Comment
Tags:: Books, html giant, Paper Camp, Warren Ellis
reading on reading: online magazines + paper camp
Categories: BooksTags:: Books, html giant, Paper Camp, Warren Ellis
At HTML Giant, Jimmy Chen looks at Issuu’s method for displaying text, which — to these eyes — essentially looks like figuring out a way to mimic the action of holding a magazine open in the online space. This is something I’ve seen used a fair amount of places, including by publications I like, and … Continue reading
January 15, 2009, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: "Huffington Post", "James Murphy", "Sam Lipsyte", Akashic, Books
reading on reading: three links for a thursday night
Categories: BooksTags:: "Huffington Post", "James Murphy", "Sam Lipsyte", Akashic, Books
One: The event took place a month ago, but I’m only now reading about Sam Lipsyte and James Murphy talking art at Joe’s Pub. (Link via Jessica Suarez.) Two: THE2NDHAND’s Todd Dills on Arthur Nersesian’s The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx. I’ve only read one of Nersesian’s novels (Manhattan Loverboy), which I wasn’t taken with, … Continue reading
December 31, 2008, Author: , Leave a comment
Tags:: best of 2008, Books
novels prose & graphic: 2008
Categories: 2008, Book Review, BooksTags:: best of 2008, Books
This is by no means a complete list of books I read that impressed me in 2008. It’s more of a selection of a few that I particularly dug, or that got under my skin, or did something that caught my eye. You’ll notice a strange dearth of proper 2008 releases on here. Part of … Continue reading