Books/Mags/Blogs

We have a long-standing policy at Booksquare (yes, we really do have such things that we dust off when needed): if you can’t be distractingly cute, you must be smart and funny. And since the latter ages better, we prefer the smart and funny. Thus we were charmed further into what started out as an ordinary author profile when we encountered this: What his celebrity mostly means, Mr. McEwan said in an interview in New York this week, is that every time he has a book out, newspaper editors in Britain call him requesting, say, an essay on “My Favorite […]

We stumbled across an interesting discussion about our friend Daniel Olivas, whose first book came out at the same time as Jill’s (they shared war stories during her month here). Actually, the discussion is about Olivas’s book — we’re feeling too lazy to rewrite the sentence. Okay, really, the discussion is about the way presentation affects the perception of language. In the midst of a glowing review of Devil Talk, we found a serious contemplation of the implications of italicizing Spanish (specifically) in text. Let us, for a moment, forget style guides and their strictures (this is hard for us,

Dan Wickett, who assures us he does sleep, leading us to believe he forgoes food, has posted the next in his series of interviews with editors of literary journals. We are particularly impressed with this series because the editors take their time to answer questions thoughtfully and in detail. Sure, when you get down to it, it’s all about submitting a good story that touches the editorial staff, but once you’ve read each editor’s responses, you really feel like you know what works for them. To wit, Oh, hey, sure, gosh! It’s no biggie. I just finished watching “The O.C.”,

The New York Times may have been late to the party, but it’s circling the dance floor in 3/4 time. The Paper of Record has gone from painful explanations of what blogs are to insider winking about the trends that divert blogosphere denizens. As the article mentions some of our favorite haunts, who are we to complain? Besides, if The Elegant Variation doesn’t open a weekly can of whoop ass on The Los Angeles Times, who will? On the Internet, 2nd (and 3rd and . . . ) Opinions

As we noted last week, the women authors in Britain are not happy about the fact that their work is considered domestic (among other perceived flaws). Toby Litt and Ali Smith will likely be defending their ill-chosen words in the introduction to New Writing 13 for a long time. Their approach undermined their assertion that many writers today take the path well followed. Today we bring you Kirsty Gunn’s defense of domestic literature (second link below leads to a treasure trove of other thoughts on this subject…including ours). Gunn starts her argument in a most appropriate place: . . .In

We have tried it every way: clueless, exacting, stumbling in the darkness, thoughtful but wary, index cards in meaningful colors, wing and a prayer. Yes, plotting is the ultimate personality exercise. We admire those who work through a book with soldier-like precision; we cannot draw a straight line with a ruler. For us, the story is revealed from various angles. Sometimes we find the end first (yes, the joy of that scenario!), sometimes it’s an opening line. Mostly it’s a moment in the middle. The moment in the middle. Nicole Krauss, starting the buzz for A History of Love a

We apologize for our inability to control our base urges. There is something inside that makes us want to exult in the humanity of humans. Yes, this means that we derive far too much pleasure from people behaving badly. Today, we bring you a publicist taking exception to a bad review. A corollary of the Cookie Jar Theory is that people will flock to the scene of disaster because it probably makes us feel superior. Ignoring this review would have been the best thing the publicist could do for her book. Causing a scene undoes the scores of good reviews

Atlantic Monthly will no longer publish fiction in its regular issues. But…it’s looking at creating special fiction-only editions. Done right, this could really benefit short story writers. We have faith in done right. Atlantic Monthly’s Fiction to Walk Plank (Second Item)

We lead a fascinating life. Every moment is something to be documented and explored. For example, this morning, we headed straight for the refrigerator and pulled out the juice (not that juice). Normally, we wait until after our first cup of coffee before we hit the hard stuff. This pattern shift surely portends great things for our future, and we will continue to monitor the situation. Yeah, we’re a little bored with the proliferation of confessional writing. Does every single person who does business and/or work for the Federal government need to share their life story? Isn’t that what the

Adam Langer, author of Crossing California and winner of Booksquare bonus points for this definition. . . In the author’s dictionary, spouse is defined as “the partner with a health insurance plan.” . . .discusses some striking differences between American and European publishing. While we really enjoyed the concept of magazines, we naturally latched on to the following idea (three guesses as to why): The Really Cool, Eye-Catching website Amerikanische Literatur [BS note: While we do not speak German, our educated guess leads us to believe this means Fine Products From The U.S.]. With some notable exceptions (for example, check