Lev Grossman‘s article in the Wall Street Journal, “Good Books Don’t Have to Be Hard,” drew an interesting collection of comments, as well as a considered response from Christopher Beha at n+1.
Balance of Power: Grossman and Beha, Reader and Writer
Bibliophilic Crack
In the spring of 2006, John Unsworth taught a graduate seminar on "Twentieth-Century American Bestsellers." It led to one of history's finest class projects--a browsable database of bestsellers, 337 in all. As with any bestseller lists, you'll find a range of titles, everything from Thomas Wolfe to Tom Clancy, but click through and find that each entry includes an extremely detailed description of the book's history (these were compiled by graduate students, after all); a mini-essay on its reception; images of covers, page layouts, and even some ads; and more. It is, in short, bibliophilic crack. (Thanks Craig)
Interview with Don DeLillo
Robert McCrum at Guardian scores a rare interview with Don DeLillo on his most recent novel, Point Omega, and the process of exploring America through fiction.
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Wizard Jail
Recommended Reading: Hannah Rose-Woods on totalitarianism in the wizarding world.
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Hitchens on Literary Feuds
With Naipaul and Theroux making nice, the Times asks Christopher Hitchens what makes for a good literary feud these days: "A really first-rate bust-up must transcend the limits of 'an entertaining side show' and involve playing for high moral and intellectual stakes"
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Get Your Poetry On
Danielle Pafunda celebrates her daylong reign over the Academy of American Poets’ Twitter feed with a cento contest: She tweets the lines, you compose the poem, and three winners take home a selection of signed books written by these contest judges.
Book Cover Contests
Venus Febriculosa, currently judging entries for its Name of the Rose book-cover design contest, has opened up another contest, this one to design a "cover" for Eugenio Montale's poem, "The Eel."