NaNoWriMo: The endurance test that may lead to a bestseller
November is National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo, when Great American Novelists scramble to write 50,000-word manuscripts in 30 days. What began as a 21-person contest in 1999 is now led by an Executive Director (Grant Faulkner, no relation to William) and has become a literary success, with nearly half a million people…
continue reading
The preciousness of cookbooks
The Atlantic has a story about the long history of cookbooks serving as status symbols. The piece examines how cookbooks were clearly marketed to specific classes, such as the obviously titled Plain Cookery for the Working Classes, published in 1847. It’s an interesting piece and well worth a read. However, what strikes me about this…
continue reading
Mark Halperin’s Career, or: How Low Can You Go?
Mark Halperin?s sudden fall from grace began after five women disclosed he was as frightening as any Halloween spectre: accounts of unwanted physical advances while he was the political director for ABC News have caused Penguin Press to kill his upcoming (and as yet untitled) book. In a statement to CNN, Penguin asserted that, ?In…
continue reading
Hillbilly meets presidential stormer
Reports are circulating that bestselling author and unofficial spokesperson for Appalachia JD Vance has met with controversial strategist Steve Bannon regarding openings at the Heritage Foundation. The Washington Post reports that a number of powerful folks are being considered for leadership at the influential think tank. Then, at the bottom of the article, writer Vance’s…
continue reading
Oh hell yeah! Saunders wins Booker
One of my favorite literary memories was hearing George Saunders read the short story “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz” when his first collection Civilwarland in Bad Decline was published. Saunders was a new writer and the bookstore where I worked really trumped his work. He hung around with us grad students and booksellers and told tales…
continue reading