The August issue of Open Letters is available. Nestled amidst the literary fare are early Oscar nominations from Sarah Hudson and a piece on the video game The Sims by Phillip A. Lobo.
August Open Letters
The Numbers
Some will find Publishers Weekly’s list of top selling books in 2009 endlessly fascinating. The name I was most surprised to see on the list? R. Crumb, whose The Book of Genesis Illustrated apparently sold 119,914 copies last year. (via)
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Poems Come Out
Recommended Reading: Adam Fitzgerald at LitHub interviews Deborah Landau about her newest collection of poetry, The Uses of the Body. Read it with this Leah Falk piece from The Millions about poets reading aloud.
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New Richard Powers Story Available As an eBook
National Book Award-Winning author of The Echo Maker Richard Powers has a new story out, “Genie“, as an ebook original.
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Packer on Afghanistan
Another hip-hip for long-form journalism. George Packer‘s piece in the New Yorker on Richard Holbrooke and the Af-Pak War reminds one that some things — complicated geopolitical matters, for example — must be explored at length. Subscribers can read the full article in the digital edition here. Short of that, read Packer’s assessment of the McChrystal Report on his blog.
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If I Were President
What would Geoffrey Canada, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Jennifer Egan do in America’s highest office?
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Remembering Ronan
Almost a year ago, Emily Rapp’s son Ronan passed away from Tay-Sachs disease. At The Rumpus, Rapp discusses her loss and how it affects her current pregnancy. “A boy was born in the world, already doomed by genetics, in March 2010. A girl, if all goes well, will be born in the world in March 2014, and born to do what?”
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