Intellectual Curiosities and Provocations

December 2008

Literary Holiday Shopping Guide for 2008

Internet Culture,
Language,
Reading,
Visual Art

Hello, boys and girls. It's the first week of December, and that, more than anything, is a signal for me to start thinking about holiday gift giving. Of course, I've been unemployed since the end of August so everyone on my list is getting handmade jewelry, lovingly crafted from macaroni and dental floss, but for those of you who still have jobs, I have compiled a list of gift ideas, all of which can be purchased online so you won't have to deal with going to any madhouse stores this time of year.

Reviewing the Review: December 7 2008

New York City,
Publishing
At least the Holiday Books issue of the New York Times Book Review is a thick issue -- at 72 pages, exactly three times as many pages as last week. Those who monitor the health of the book industry by the amount of ad space publishers buy in the Book Review will be reassured following a week of bad news.

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: December 14 2008. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: November 30 2008.

Reviewing the Review: December 14 2008

Comix
Some readers objected when I scoffed at last week's Holiday Issue of the New York Times Book Review and said "I'm not going to sit here reviewing a bunch of articles about coffee-table books". Just to be clear: I did not mean to imply that expensive art books, picture books, gardening books and travel books should not exist, or should not be covered in the New York Times. I like coffee-table books myself, and have bought and enjoyed many over the years. Like Cosmo Kramer, I would even like to write one myself someday.

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: December 21 2008. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: December 7 2008.

Jeff VanderMeer, The Hardest Working Man in Fantasy

 
Jeff Vandermeer and his many works
 

Bill Ectric interviews experimental fantasy author and indie-publishing innovator Jeff VanderMeer.

American,
Being A Writer,
Fantasy,
Fiction,
Indie,
Interviews,
Postmodernism,
Southern

In close proximity to primordial Florida swamps, branch-shrouded canopy roads, and Kafkaesque state capital intrigues, Jeff and Ann VanderMeer are Tallahassee’s greatest unnatural resource.

Ann is the fiction editor of Weird Tales Magazine, its continuing mission to publish brilliantly strange original material unavailable anywhere else. Jeff is on the cutting edge of the “New Weird,” infusing literary proficiency back into gothic fantasy and sci-fi with such novels as Veniss Underground, City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek, and most recently, Finch.

Reviewing the Review: December 21 2008

Classics,
Drama,
Poetry,
Psychology,
Religion
I don't know if the intense Jeanette Winterson has written much book criticism before. But her review of Forrest Gander's As a Friend in today's New York Times Book Review reads like it's her first time, and I mean that as a compliment. Rarely does a critic seem so eager to drink a book in, as when she tells us that Gander:

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: January 4 2009. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: December 14 2008.

Action Poetry 2008

Litkicks,
Poetry
LitKicks has been inviting poets to submit their work for public review and response since 2001. 2008 was a lively year for "Action Poetry" -- a few writers have become new regulars, and many excellent newcomers have dropped in as well. We hope regulars and newcomers will keep up the good work in 2009. Here is a random display of some of the best poems from 2008.