Stay tuned for the unveiling of the very first LBC ‘Read This!’ selection. It should be happening very soon. Any minute now. Keep checking. I swear you won’t be disappointed.

The new issue of Boldtype is up complete with an interview with Jonathan Lethem. I can’t make up my mind about him. I’ve only read one book, the obvious one. Is his other stuff worth it?

Nextbook asked 11 authors ranging from Tony Kushner to Rebecca Goldstein to Ilan Stevens to recommend a Jewish book for the summer. Alas, I have no audio at work, but you can listen to them talk about their picks.

The Globe has a nice piece on 3 new independent bookstores in the Boston area. One opened right near my neighborhood in Porter Square. I haven’t spent much time there (for obvious reasons), but it’s a nice place.

And the LA Times (which is free now?) has a great piece on food writing. Lots of stuff to add to my TBR pile now. Drat.

We’ve finally hit the jackpot in terms of weather today, though we didn’t get it from fortune cookies.

The Literary Saloon pointed me to the new Reading the World pages which have more information on what it is and who’s participating. Look in the H’s. There we are!

I was reading this interview with Diana Abu Jaber (which I got from Moorish Girl by the way), author of the lovely memoir The Language of Baklava, when I hit this part:

FS: In the Foreword to TLOB and recently in the panel “Memoirs: Family Matters”, your remark rather honestly about the fusion of memoir and fiction….Can you talk a little bit more about this – this fusion and how it influenced your new work?
DAJ: Oh yes, I’ve often wanted to called my new book a memvel, or a noivoir, because it really didn’t seem to fall along whatever the perceived lines are for writing within traditional genre lines.

Over at the LBC website there’s been an ongoing discussion across several posts about ‘serious’ literature vs. ‘non-serious’ literature. Genres like Scifi, Romance, and Mystery often get dismissed to quickly by folks, who don’t consider it good enough. It’s like candy, they say. This quote made me think about the labels use and how perhaps we are damaging some books. Case in point, I just finished Perdido Street Station, which I loved. It’s one of the most engrossing and well-ritten things I’ve read recently, since Divided Kingdom last month. PST is defintely Scifi, but I dare anyone to read it and call it candy. But to say it transcends the genre also seems to say that the genre lacks something. I haven’t worked this out in my head yet, but I suppose I do know one thing. There are well-written books and there are crappy books. Period. Dan Brown is no China Mieville. I can’t think of a solution to this problem though.

Here’s some links to interest you:
Dan Wickett interviews 9 more editors of literary journals. I am beginning to suspect Dan is a robot. How else does he do so much?

Forward publishing since 1897, has a lovely story by Pearl Abraham.

Read Ed, Tito, and Scott’s different takes on the William Vollman reading they attended this week.

Daniel Torday, former editor for Esquire magazine, offers 5 young writers to watch out for.

This is pretty cool. The AP gives the Litblog Co-op some good coverage including quotes from Soft Skull Press (which publishes great books) and Pantheon (division of Random House).

“I’m absolutely delighted,” Soft Skull publisher Richard Nash wrote in an e-mail. “The Lit Blogs are now doing what e-mail and the Web couldn’t pull off: connect writers to readers more smoothly.”

Inside Higher Ed has a nice interview with Dan Green on the Co-op.

I laughed when I saw this article about Dickens World. On the one hand, it’s sort of a tragic way to honor a great author, but on the other, little kids getting rebuked for asking for more cotton candy could be priceless. I am imagining one of those mastercard commercials too. (link stolen from Bookslut, where Michael Schaub has funny things to say about it)