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The Man Booker Prize Shortlist, or: Hilary Mantel’s Preakness Stakes
The Man Booker Prize judges have announced their shortlist, narrowing down their original dozen by half. It’s an interesting selection, made up—as the Booker website is eager to point out— of “two...
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NYRB, Lit Up
I’ve long maintained that my love of New York Review Books extended only as far as the realm of print—that aside from the wise choices in backlist matter it’s their graphic presence, their savory cover...
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It Ain’t Oeuvre ’Til It’s Oeuvre: Elmore Leonard Wins National Book...
Last month I commended the PEN American Center for awarding its Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction to E.L. Doctorow. Often it seems like that kind of recognition celebrates an...
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The Royal Library of the Netherlands’ Word Problem
When it comes to digitizing older and orphan works, most of the copyright controversies I see cropping up have more to do with intellectual property issues than actual conflict. Which is about what...
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Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White: Dalkey Archive Press and That Job Ad
If you work in publishing, or are looking for a job in publishing, you may have seen the help wanted ad posted by Dalkey Archive Press last week. The University of Illinois-based press is looking to...
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Tales of the Unread: NBCC and The Story Prize Finalists
Two of my favorite shortlists, the National Book Critics Circle and The Story Prize, were announced this week, and there are some really choice picks among them. Oh, I know, I say that every year....
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On Beyond Chekhov: Introducing The Russian Library
When Russian writers come up in conversation, as they are wont to, you can always count on someone—or an entire chorus—admitting to huge gaps in their reading and confiding that they really need to...
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A Satisfying Night for The Story Prize
Was it just me, or was this year’s Story Prize event an even better show than usual? Which is not to say that it ever isn’t good—Larry Dark and his finalists never fail to be interesting and lively....
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Ed Man Walking
Many of you are probably familiar with my complaint that Nothing Ever Happens In My Neighborhood. True, it’s one of the few remaining affordable places in New York where you’re only a few blocks from...
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That’s Not Funny
For a publication that’s been walking that fine line between good and bad taste for years, Vice Magazine managed to piss off a whole bunch of people at once with the photo spread in its recent Fiction...
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Reading Orwell in Taksim Square
Possibly the single most enduring image from my own political coming of age, in my late 20s, was Tiananmen Square’s Tank Man. To someone who had idly considered herself a dissenter once upon a...
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Man Booker Prize Extends a Hand to U.S. Authors
Apologies to whatever readers I may have left; I’m very much in the weeds these days and the expectations of academia are doing their best to separate me from the fun and spontaneity that are necessary...
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All’s Well That Ends Well? Thinking About the Hogarth Shakespeare Project
I’ve been thinking about the upcoming Hogarth Shakespeare project. The idea was announced a few months ago, but this week, for some reason, I’ve been progressing through a veritable Kübler-Ross model...
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Heeeere Comes the Rooster: The Tournament of Books Longlist
The long list for the 2014 Tournament of Books is up; let the opining begin. Out of the 90-odd novels listed I’ve read eight, own another four, and have six or so more either on library hold or vaguely...
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Book Award Bingo?
If I had a little more time on my hands, or at least a little more patience, this would be the time to make up some cards for Book Award Bingo. Short lists are out this week from the National Book...
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The Daphne Awards: Bookslut’s 50-Year Do-Over
1963: To borrow a line from Frank Sinatra, it was a very good year. Many fine works saw the light of day in 1963, some celebrated and some unsung—but to get to the point, a lot of good books were...
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Good Chemistry at The Story Prize
Wednesday night’s Story Prize event was, as always, entertaining and edifying. There’s something about the chemistry of getting three very disparate short story writers together to read their work and...
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Don’t Mess with Patience or Fortitude: The Demise of the Central Library Plan
In an interesting and surprising turnaround last week, the New York Public Library decided to scrap its controversial Central Library Plan. The proposed renovation, originally presented in 2008, would...
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The Great Debate: Should We Let Poirot Rest in Peace?
For those of you who haven’t heard, the Agatha Christie estate is commissioning Sophie Hannah to write a new novel featuring the Queen of Crime’s master Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Among many other...
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Better Late Than Never Dept.: The PEN 2014 Literary Award Shortlist
Sometimes I’m late in keeping current with literary competition news here, and then sometimes I’m criminally late. My lack of commentary on the PEN 2014 Literary Awards would fall into that last...
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