Because he insists on making the rest of us look lazy, Dan Wickett serves up another fascinating interview with editors of literary journals. Included are Ploughshares and the Kenyon Review. Check it out.
Author Archives: bookdwarf
Need something to read?
StorySouth has announced it’s Million Writers Award long list. Whittled down from 1200 nominations, storySouth has the top 150 final short stories available online. The shortlist will be announced March 1st.
Review in brief
Elizabeth McKenzie’s debut novel Stop that Girl is getting mentioned in many places. Scott of Conversational Reading has a more detailed and longer review. And Beatrice has a great Author to Author conversation between McKenzie and Curtis Sittenfeld, whose own Prep is making headlines.
Mine own take on Stop that Girl is mixed. The connected series of short stories tell parts of the life story of Ann Ransom. Some stories work and othes don’t in my opinion. The later stories felt deeper and more fleshed out than the stories concerning Ann’s childhood. Ann has a troublesome relationship with her mother (who doesn’t?) who in turn has an even worse relationship with her domineering doctor mother, simply called Dr. Frost. The early stories just felt thin to me. I am looking forward to reading a novel by McKenzie someday. She has a great deal of talent.
Another one for the TBR list
This review makes me want to read read all of Ishiguro’s books.
Update: This second review clinches it. Ishiguro is a must-read now.
Update 2: I was just reading Maud Newton’s blog and came across this post. I swear I didn’t copy it. How weird! Great minds think alike.
Update 3: Aha! Our wonderful Random House rep has a copy of Never Let Me Go, which has a pretty cover by the way, and will bring it by next Monday.
Prison reading
Ian Buruma, author of Inventing Japan 1853-1964 (which I reviewed a while back), has written a nice piece for this past Sunday’s NYT Magazine on teaching a course in Asian history in maximum security prison.
The Anti-Christo
The NYT has an here. The best part is the comparison page, where Christo’s project stands side by side with Hargo’s. Christo’s costs? $29,000,000. Hargo’s? $3.50. Good times.
Beyond human
So it’s time I came out from behind the curtain so to speak for a minute. I am just too damn excited. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 3 years old. I’ve been diabetic for as long as I have memories (except one that I have from the crib). Today I started on an insulin pump. You can see it here. I have to say it’s pretty damn cool. And when I got back to work, I found this article on blood glucose monitors waiting for me. A painless way to test blood sugar would be a dream come true for millions of people.
Anyway, I feel a bit like a cyborg now. My pump is bright blue and so far is working fine. I can barely tell it’s there. So for any diabetics out there who happen to read this blog, check out the pump. Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.
New Booker prize nominees announced
The list of nominees have been announced for the brand-spanking new International Man Booker award, which is open to authors all over the world. The bi-annual award ,£60,000, is awarded to an author for their entire body of work, not just one book. It’s a strong list of 18 authors, including Margert Atwood, Stanislaw Lem, and Philip Roth.
Chabon goodness
Our Pal the Rake has a great rundown on the Michael Chabon event he went to sponsored by Tattered Cover. We also learn that the Rake has a slight fear of old ladies in furs.
Another article on lit bloggers
USA Today has a nice article on the rise of litbloggers. Bloggers mentioned are Laila Lalami of Moorish Girl, whose forthcoming book The Things Death Will Buy gets mentioned as well. Also the Complete Review and Maud Newton get some paragraphs.
Bookdwarf 