Mark Vonnegut in Tribeca
Mark Vonnegut talks about the first posthumous collection of his father Kurt Vonnegut's writings in a bookstore in New York City.
April 2008
Point/Counterpoint: National Poetry Month
Point: National Poetry Month is Great
Reviewing the Review: April 6 2008
"In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop" warns the front cover of today's New York Times. Well, not this blogger, because I know enough to take breaks when I need them. And you should too.
This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 13 2008. The previous post in the series is Releasing the Review: March 30 2008.
Twelve Monkeys (Or, Okay, Links)
-- It is essential that we kick things off today with dinosaur comics.
-- And then it's time for the Farrar, Straus & Giroux poetry blog, The Best Words in their Best Order.
-- Continuing on the poetry theme, here is part 1 of an interview with Canadian poet David Solway on what makes a poem great.
-- And then it's time for the Farrar, Straus & Giroux poetry blog, The Best Words in their Best Order.
-- Continuing on the poetry theme, here is part 1 of an interview with Canadian poet David Solway on what makes a poem great.
Reviewing the Review: April 13 2008
Today's cover article is on Terror and Consent by Philip Bobbitt, and it's by Niall Ferguson, who is (according to his reviewer credits) a "professor at Harvard University and Harvard Business School, a fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford." Harvard, Oxford and Stanford. I'll tell you the honest truth -- when I hear that a critic is associated with one of these world-class institutions, I'm impressed. When I hear that a critic is associated with two of them, I'm very impressed and slightly intimidated.
This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 20 2008. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 6 2008.
Why I’m Playing Bongo Drums on Thursday
1. The Beat Poetry Happy Hour will take place at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City this Thursday, April 17 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, featuring Tao Lin, Zachary German, Clarissa Beyah Taylor, Larissa Shmailo, Joy Leftow and, of all people, me playing bongo drums. How, you may wonder, did I end up playing bongo drums? Well, it has something to do with a recent Bowery Poetry Club Beat Poetry Happy Hour I attended. A drummer was struggling a bit onstage, and I casually sauntered over to host George Wallace and said "I can play bongo drums better than this guy."
I meant it in a sort of smart-ass generic way, the way I might also say, for instance, "My mother can pitch relief better than Aaron Heilman". The actual truth, though, is that my mother can't pitch relief better than Aaron Heilman. The actual truth is also that I don't know how to play bongo drums. However, George took me literally and signed me up, so I will fake it as best as I can this Thursday. I will also shout out a poem or two, and if you are anywhere near downtown New York this Thursday at 6:30 I really hope you'll come by. I guarantee it will be fun.
Why I Love to Write
My family is full to overflowing with storytellers. Southerners on one side and Arabs on the other, for as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by people who like to spin tales, true or false or handsomely embellished amalgamations of the two. So it's really no wonder that I've been making up stories since I was able to figure out how.
Reviewing the Review: April 20 2008
Michael Orthofer has been bemoaning the English-only literary focus of the New York Times Book Review for a long time, and he reaches a brilliant sarcastic pitch with a recent blog post titled 29 Words. It's more important that you read this than that you read anything I will say here this weekend.
This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 27 2008. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 13 2008.
Scroll Down
1. I don't usually pay attention to "Earth Day" any more than to "National Poetry Month", but that doesn't mean I can't call attention to an impressive book that's hitting the stores on this day, Tuesday, April 22.
Harry, Rent
A Change In The Weather
The literature biz, not an easy biz even in the best of times, is reeling from the challenges of new media, new pricing models, new access models and new corporate ownership models. Future trends remain unclear, but there are encouraging portents lately:
1. A self-published autobiography, Who Is It That Can Tell Me Who I Am? by psychotherapist Jane Haynes, has been nominated for a prestigious PEN prize.
1. A self-published autobiography, Who Is It That Can Tell Me Who I Am? by psychotherapist Jane Haynes, has been nominated for a prestigious PEN prize.
Eight Links for the Weekend
1. I'm ready for my fifteen minutes of fame now.
2. The culture wars: comic style.
3. Laura and Jenna Bush held a discussion of the children's book they collaborated on, Read All About It!
2. The culture wars: comic style.
3. Laura and Jenna Bush held a discussion of the children's book they collaborated on, Read All About It!
Reviewing the Review: April 27 2008
Two weeks ago a New York Times Book Review cover article by Niall Ferguson all but endorsed John McCain for President, also referring to a book that called for eternal USA military domination of Muslim nations "the most profound book to have been written on the subject of American foreign policy since the attacks of 9/11 -- indeed, since the end of the cold war".
This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: May 4 2008. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: April 20 2008.
Berlin: Lou Reed’s Dark Poetry
In 1973, as a follow up to his highly successful "Transformer" album, Lou Reed released the album "Berlin". The ten-song concept album tells of the disintegration of a couple living in Germany. The couple, Caroline and Jim, follows a dark path that starts with drug addiction and descends into infidelity, spousal abuse, loss of children due to unfit parenting, and, ultimately, suicide. The album was a commercial flop upon release. Rock critic Lester Bangs, up until this point a huge Lou Reed supporter, called the record "a gargantuan slab of maggoty rancor that may well be the most depressed album ever made." Reaction to the album was so negative that Reed did not perform the complete song cycle in concert for over thirty years.
Mia Farrow and Bernard-Henri Levy Urge Hope, Action, Olympic Boycott for Darfur
At one of the kickoff events for New York City's PEN World Voices festival,actress Mia Farrow, critic Bernard-Henri Levy and novelist Dinaw Mengestu met tonight at the Alliance Francais to discuss the ongoing genocidal situation in Darfur, which has gotten no better after five years of worldwide apathy.