Will books in white wrappers become this year’s deer head? At The New York Times: Physical books find new life as design objects.
Book Decor
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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The World According to John
Here is a helpful User’s Guide to John Irving from the good people over at Hazlitt–it should be all you need in order to tackle Irving’s newest novel, Avenue of Mysteries. This slightly disheartened take on what it’s like to re-read Irving is worth a look.
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A Radical Vision
Recommended reading: this brilliant and thorough profile of Toni Morrison from the New York Times Magazine, complete with a video of Morrison reading from her upcoming novel, God Help the Child.
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Recovering Iris Murdoch
With many of her books no longer in print, Iris Murdoch's posthumous reputation leaves much to be desired, and her ardent fans seek to rectify this.
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My Dear Antlers
Ladette Randolph began the Writers and their Pets series on the Ploughshares blog in large part to celebrate her beloved dog Sally. It didn’t take long, however, for the series to expand, which eventually led to this week’s entry about Nina Mukerjee Furstenau’s pet elk.
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