Last year we highlighted University of Nebraska Press among other small presses for the keeping in print otherwise little known future Nobel laureates. Today’s honoree Mario Vargas Llosa is quite well-known by comparison, but University of Nebraska Press has nonetheless (barely) run its Nobel streak to three straight years by way of Vargas Llosa’s inclusion in the press’ soccer writing anthology, The Global Game: Writers on Soccer.
Nobel Streak Stays Alive for University Press
Staying Alive
Amidst all the sad tales of great bookstores going under, the Strand remains a fixture of the New York lit scene. At Vulture, Chris Bonanos explores the many reasons why the Strand is still afloat, among them the store’s increasing sales of new books. You could also read our own Janet Potter on her lifelong infatuation with bookstores.
●
●
Dude You’re Ready
“I started zoning out a little. My eyes drifted over toward my cat. Mr. Patterson pulled me right back in by saying, ‘Once you have the outline, start writing dude, you’re ready.’ It was that dude that woke me.” At The Awl, Patrick Hoffman reviews James Patterson’s MasterClass on writing. Pair with Bill Morris's account of losing his Pattersonian virginity at 32,000 feet.
●
●
“You are all going to die”
“Freedom is not freedom from connection. Serial killing is freedom from connection. Certain large investment firms have established freedom from connection. But we as people never do, and we’re not supposed to, and we shouldn’t want to. We are individuals, obviously, but we are more than that.” Joss Whedon speaks to Wesleyan’s graduating class.
●
●
Tuesday, Big New Release Day
The big, blockbuster book this week is the final installment in the late Stieg Larsson's trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Those just catching on to the Larsson phenomenon can also now get the complete set. Moving on to quirkier fare, there's The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto, a reprint of a 1950s treatise on drinking with a new introduction by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). And finally, Library of America is putting out a volume of novels and stories by master of gothic fiction, Shirley Jackson.
●
●
Party in the City Where the Book Fair’s On
South Florida readers! Assuming you’re done voting by now, you should make next week’s Miami Book Fair International a priority. Afterward, you can go celebrate thirty years of Books & Books, the jewel of Coral Gables. (And perhaps to warm up for it all, you can read my review of Tom Wolfe’s Back to Blood.)
●
●
Ten Years in the Making
" I love the shape of words, I love the comet-tail histories of words. I love the roll and crunch of syllables in my mouth." In Electric Literature, Laura van den Berg interviews R.O. Kwon about religious fanaticism, "unknowing," and her upcoming debut novel, The Incendiaries. Pair with: Kwon's 2017 Year in Reading.
Tuesday New Release Day: Wallace; Libaire; Emmich; Solwitz; Maum
Out this week: Extraordinary Adventures by Daniel Wallace; White Fur by Jardine Libaire; The Reminders by Val Emmich; Once, in Lourdes by Sharon Solwitz; and Touch by Courtney Maum. For more on these and other new titles, go read our most recent book preview.
●
●