A Deluge of Damn Good Books
Too many good books sitting on your desk is a good problem to have. A number of excellent reads are being released right around the same time and I’m enjoying the hell out of them. It makes for a lot of work because I need to crank out reviews, but it remains a pleasure. Here…
continue readingTurning an Opportunity for Violence into a Writing Exercise
Certain sounds, smells, and tastes are difficult to articulate on the page. How can you describe the smell of a baked apple pie in an innovative way? How can you even begin to conjure the noise of a battlefield? How can you explain the feeling of aluminum foil on your teeth without using the word metallic? As…
continue readingSlow Week
My apologies for the light posting this week. Between work-work and literary-work, life has been incredibly hectic recently. I should be back up to normal speed in a day or two. I typically do quite a bit of writing on the weekends. I can fill my bloggy pantry with posts and pull them out during the week. But…
continue readingLiterary Online Ads
Good deals abound on eBay this week: For $999,999, you can purchase the publication and screen rights for an autobiography where “This bohemian girl tries to rediscover Jack Kerouack in an updated setting. Follow the misadventures of this identity starved individual as she discovers herself. Writing styles sometimes recalls Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac and…
continue readingRoth Wins PEN Award
Philip Roth was awarded the PEN/Nabokov Award for his lifetime literary achievement. The author of Portnoy’s Complaint, The Plot Against America, and others will receive a payment of $20,000 in conjunction with the award. Winners of other PEN awards included Linda Gregg, Amy Butler Greenfield, and Christopher Coake. Roth is also the recipient of two…
continue reading