New York City subway top 10 books
The New York Times surveys what people are reading on New York subways, here are the top 10 books. (Click on the link for Newspapers and Magazines too.)
The first is about a girl with a dragon tattoo, the last is about a girl who played with fire. The second is from the guy who wrote about a girl with curious hair. The third is written by a guy with curiously no hair. The fourth was released by a publisher who was maybe thinking of the cover of the second book. The title of the fifth book is mysteriously not a year, and a handful of years pass in the sixth. The seventh was written by a woman who liked to cook food, and the second to last by a man who likes to think about food. In the eight book, the eponymous heroine’s suicide [is this where I say “spoil alert”?] involves public transportation, but don’t worry, by a train not a subway. The last time I visited New York, I pensively read the map and people’s faces. Good Job New York City, and onwards literature!
It’s a Narwhal!
Yesterday’s birthday girl Julia Cohen wasn’t the only birthday girl this week, apparently. Adele Cecilia was born Thursday in Fayetteville, Arkansas unto Katy & Matthew Henriksen, the inimitable wife-husband team responsible for Typo, Cannibal, Narwhal, The Frank Stanford Literary Festival, and the Burning Chair Series. Facebook’s being a punk right now, but later when it stops, there are pictures of the happy baby and proud parents on Matt’s page. Big internet hug to all 3 of you.
Also, just a heads up- Sunday’s birthday girl is Joshua Cohen.
bright fish hitch coop and then some: a roundup
Susie & Aretha Bright answer more sex questions at Jezebel, including “I’m a girl who comes too fast.”
Stanley Fish on reforms to college composition courses. And then, a little later, a follow-up column on the reactionary, ill-informed comments directed at him for writing the first column.
Up from Our Own Comments Threads– Ed Champion’s Hate Mail Dramatic Reading Project now includes the letter Kyle Minor posted yesterday in the comments on Catherine Lacey’s post about said project.
Over at Coop’s place, there’s a Spotlight on Danielle Collobert’s “Notebooks.” >> he just left — when he leaves I never know when I’ll see him again — always chance encounters — or nearly — today I asked myself what little errors we’ve let come between us — I don’t know yet — I can barely guess — <<
And Christopher Hitchens remembers Ted Kennedy, as only William Logan can. I know this one sounds like the boring one, but it’s actually the most interesting of what I’ve posted here (except maybe the girl who comes too fast) and it’s utterly unlike any of the other six hundred Kennedy memorials you read or else avoided reading last week.
Actually, Hitch is probably only as interesting as the Benjamin De Casseres piece by Joshua Cohen in Tablet, which I blogged about here the other day (“Hope is the promise of a crucifixion”), but for some reason get the feeling nobody saw. So here it is again.
Hate Mail
Ed Champion has started this new series on his blog where he does dramatic readings of user-submitted hate mail. Who here has gotten (or sent) hate mail? You should send it along.The new one he posted is really funny. You can hear it here.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
The Last King Of Scotland
The Guardian says that Scottish literature has been split in two by comments made by James Kelman, who over the weekend attacked “writers of detective fiction or books about some upper middle-class young magician or some crap.” My first reaction to this was “Man, it is apparently super fucking easy to split Scottish literature in two,” but upon further reflection that seems petty. American literature gets split in two pretty much every other week, and usually Oprah Winfrey has something to do with it.
I should refrain from discussing what this whole contretemps might do to Scotland’s collective national psyche, at least until I can fake a better Scottish accent. But it got me thinking about the old “literary fiction” versus “genre fiction” debate, which leads me to this question: Does this debate make you want to (a) shoot yourself in the head, or (b) stab yourself in the face? If someone brings this topic up, do you usually (a) cry, or (b) vomit blood? Either way, it sounds like Scotland is kind of fucked, which is a shame, because I like that “Belle and Sebastian” band. (By the way: Hi! My name is Michael.)
Not the spurs, Cormac!
What would you do if your favorite author (living) punched you right in your face, and then beat you into a coma for good measure? Sue? Have them put in prison, where they might not ever write again? Or pretend like it didn’t happen, in the hope that said violent wordsmith would continue to produce uninterrupted the works that you love so much?
This is the position in which Patton Oswalt’s character finds himself in his new, fantastic film of loserdom and obsession, Big Fan. Kudos also belong to Michael Rapaport, for his spot-on portrayal of a loudmouth Eagles diehard.
5 Comments
August 31st, 2009 / 1:13 pm
August 31st, 2009 / 1:13 pm
I’ve been obsessed with this song for like 3 weeks now and don’t see it letting up
Specifically, the version on Live Rust, but this version from Hamburg ’96 (~28 years later) is pretty great too.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdUC_GU4hYw
I Caught A Little Cold
I have a little summer cold: sore throat, runny nose, stuffed up sinuses, medicine head, and so on. Unfortunately it came on at the silliest time: classes have just started and we’re moving into the new house this weekend. As I try to sleep each night, I think in my head how my cold is just a small thing in my life, and the pain of my sore throat will go away soon. This helps, I guess.
One book that I always think of when I get a sore throat is Boy by Roald Dahl. In the book, he describes having a doctor and parents trick him into a undergoing a tonsillectomy without anesthesia. Although I cannot remember the exact language of the scene, nor do I remember the details preceding the event, I vividly remember reading and imagining Dahl’s throat filling with blood as the doctor cut away his tonsils. This has stayed with me since I first read Boy as a boy, and, in addition to some other events of my childhood, might explain my fear of doctors, dentists, and other masked individuals.
What other books are out there that have unhealthy characters in them? What stories can I think of to soothe the annoying pain in my ears, nose, and throat?
Nah, Blake. It’s Friday. Let’s speed it up.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3vMOdv7pgs
Okay, that Swedish guy kills this.
Also, my head hurts a little. Here is assistance.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQFn3nbO1nE