We’re taking a day off, but don’t go thinking that means you’re off the hook around here! Later today, we have an interview with Kevin Smokler. Kevin will be talking about Bookmark Now and how reading may not be as at risk as recent studies indicate. We’ll be back tomorrow, ready to annoy, annoy, annoy!
It is us, or are we being bombarded with robot news? Everywhere we turn, people want to talk about robot. Also, pictures. Rather than join the fray, we’re going to offer a brief commercial break: Introducing the Writerbo. No, you can’t really buy one. You have to make your own excuses. Special thanks to Susan G for providing us yet another way to avoid joining the world of functioning adults. Christ, Why Do I Bother? I’m Such a Hack.
Figures — Harper Lee pops into Los Angeles and we learn about it after the fact. Not that we were likely be invited to the Los Angeles Public Library’s 10th Annual Awards (really, they’ve had nine others?), but that’s beside the point. Lee attended the event to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award. Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend
We’re not saying anything about our neighbors, but they might have some weird friends. Not that we’ve ever indulged in a game called “Dead Jazz Musicians” or anything (Sun Ra: dead or alive). We are not the sort. The Miles Davis thing was purely coincidence; Mose Allison is doing just fine, thank you. Let us suggest that some things make us feel good about our particular level of crassness: Like taking those expired Percocet, it seemed to be a good idea at the time. On some blog or another I ran into a mention of celebritydeathbeeper.com. Interesting idea: they send
We believe that being a translator of fiction must be one of the hardest jobs ever. Oh sure, some would say brain surgeon, but they’ve never had to guide sarcasm from one language to the next. Fiction does not have the advantage of immediate and direct facial and vocal cues. It’s all in the words — and getting the words wrong changes everything. Yeah, everything. What if a certain story had been translated as “Killing An Eskimo”? Dan Wickett talks to David Karashima, a translator who began his noble career translating manga. As we suspected, we are not suited for
Another expose, courtesy of the those hard-living, down-in-the-trenches journalists from the award-winning publication The Onion MONTREAL—Yann Martel, author of the Booker Prize-winning Life Of Pi, said he was distraught to see what other books Amazon.com customers bought in addition to his. “Customers who bought this book also bought The Five People You Meet In Heaven?!” Martel read from his computer screen Monday. “And The Rule Of Four? Really?!” Martel was also surprised by the “sloppy writing” in many of Life Of Pi’s five-star customer reviews. Author Dismayed by Amazon Customers’ Other Purchases
Paperback Writer has, uh, written an extended and detailed fable about sheeps and PAN. As we understand it, sheep must sell fleece to appease the god. If high quality fleece is sold in sufficient quantity, the sheep will be allowed into a special pen. They will also receive a special pin. See how this stuff is confusing? In related news, we always suspected this: “Black sheep are always nothing but trouble.” Why PAN was the God of Sheep
You’ve read the hype, you’ve haunted the website, you’ve wondered what it’s all about. And, we might note, with good reason. Having an excellent book recommended is pretty much the literary equivalent of great sex. Except one lasts longer. We will not address the issue of satisfaction — some things are personal. The Litblog Co-op has announced its first Read This! pick: Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories. Check out the site (and the sites) over the coming weeks to learn more about this terrific title. We’ll be sharing our thoughts soon; however, we truly enjoyed The Old Hag’s introduction to the
Sure we could be coming up with scintillating original content* (or we could be reading a really cool book…stay tuned!), but we’re taking advantage of the hard work and effort others. Like The Elegant Variation. In the midst of major party preparations, Mark found three minutes to talk to David Francis. We found fun quotes. Talk about your win-win. First, Francis makes an entrance: Jane [Smiley] stops mid-sentence and decides to introduce me to her audience as I fumble for somewhere to be. She starts talking about my new book and its U.S. release and blahdy blah. Then she asks
There are far too many links for us to follow, so we’ll let LA Observed do the work. Long story short: man has idea, needs hook, creates website, interest ensues, movie deal follows. Sequel: well, if you’ve spent more than five minutes as a screenwriter in Hollywood, you know what happens next. Still, we hope for the best. Truly. As long as there isn’t a gratuitous love interest. Website sells a script
