The ever-irreverent Woody Allen weighs in on his all-time faves, among other things. A Catcher in the Rye unsurprisingly makes the list, as do more obscure picks like The World of SJ Perelman.
Woody Allen’s Favorite Books
73 Ways to Become a Better Writer
For aspiring writers who prefer their advice in bulk, Mary Jaksch at the Huffington Post gives 73 suggestions for becoming a better writer.
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Real Life Crazy Rich Inspiration
Ahead of its mid August movie debut Kevin Kwan talks about the real life inspiration behind his Crazy Rich Asian trilogy. “But the people who know me, who have read the books, and who are also in that world in Singapore, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia, don’t get it.” Refinery29 has more.
On Not Dating Natalie Portman
Moby, the electronic music producer currently elbowing his way back into the cultural imaginary, has cancelled his upcoming book tour.
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LOLerature
“Iz in ur Goolag/Havin a sad.” LOLerature is the LOLCats for the literary set. Some of the references are pretty obscure, too. The internet is now complete.
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“Hypothetical representation of a language”
When your invented language gets out of hand: the story of Ithkuil.
For Whom the Blog Tolls
The awesome Left Coast literary magazine Black Clock, whose presiding spirit is Steve Erickson, gets into the blogging game.
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Yea or Nay
In the mid-90s, David Foster Wallace published a scathing review of a John Updike novel, Toward the End of Time, that became a key text for critics of the celebrated author. Now, at The New Republic, David Baddiel argues that Updike gets a bad rap, while Jeffrey Meyers backs up DFW’s position. It might also be a good time to read James Santel’s review of Updike’s Collected Stories.