For those not familiar with my bookclub, we started out with strong intentions of reading the classics (as defined, alas, by a page torn from, well, an airline magazine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.). We were committed, and, I believe, successful. Certain titles excepted. But we continually itched for the newest buzz book (our buzz books sometimes being so-called bestsellers, but sometimes just books released within the past decade). The thing is — and you have to understand I’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird at least fourteen times, learning something new with each reading — there are many […]

I’ve never understood the human need to achieve new heights of ridiculousness. This is why I won’t be remembered like Norris McWhirter. Not only did McWhirter appreciate the folly of our humanity, but he published it successive editions. In each of us is a special person…alas, modern society makes it harder and harder to claim the title of Longest Fingernails Ever Grown. Guinness Book co-founder McWhirter dies

While I continue to deal with my household’s disappointment that Neal Stephenson’s only apparent Los Angeles appearance for The Confusion will be the LA Times Festival of Books (and this after I’ve agreed repeatedly, “Yes, he ignored us completely when touring for Quicksilver“), Neal is speaking to the press everywhere. He sits down (virtually, I imagine) with Salon to discuss the usual stuff: the brighter side of Puritanism and the feud between Newton and Leibniz (man, I’d nearly forgotten about that!). Salon also reviews The Confusion. The Salon Interview: Neal Stephenson Pirates! Calculus! Banking! Alchemy!

ProLiteracy (if you don’t know, shame on you) reports that they will receive a $50,000 Oprah Winfrey Book Club award to support ProLiteracy’s international partners’ work with children and their families in Colombia. This comes about after Oprah’s choice of One Hundred Years of Solitude as her latest bookclub pick. ProLiteracy Website

The plan, as I recall it, was to sit down and write a few romance novels. I would then take the money and open a store that sold greeting cards and balloons. Quite possibly, I would continue the writing because it would be easy and the money would be excellent. It’s okay — you can stop laughing now…that shade of red can’t be healthy. I was alarmingly young and naive at the time. Here’s the good news: I didn’t pay a small fortune to discover the awful truth. The bad news, of course, is that the castle described in the

There are some who say comedy is a finely honed craft. There are others who suggest it’s innate. And then there are writers, searching for that elusive first line. You know the one. It conveys your story, your brilliance, your ability to grab the reader by the throat and hold on for dear life. That it’s funny is purely unintentional. Or maybe just the fact that you suck at beginnings, but you end really, really well. Editors always like that. 2004 Lyttle Lytton Winners: First lines only a mother could love (under duress)