Nathaniel Philbrick answers the question Why Read Moby-Dick: “the level of the language is like no other,” but also “it’s as close to being our American Bible as we have.”
Why Read Moby Dick?
Marie-Helene Bertino on Manipulating Time in Fiction
In Bertino's latest novel, a bride-to-be struggles with her past, her future, and her dead grandma, who's back as a bird.
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Praise the Man
“Finally, without my wife, who served as editor, research assistant, and soul mate, this project could never have been finished.” On gendered expectations and book acknowledgments.
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NBA Nominee Hits Shelves
Another new release this week: Jaimy Gordon’s book Lord of Misrule, a small press underdog recently nominated for the National Book Award.
“Daytripper is overrun with rich detail”
Dominic Umile takes a look at the Daytripper, a comic by Brazilian brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. The comic, which was selected recently for les Fauves d’Angoulême – the largest comics festival in Europe – concerns the “volley of riches and failure from the desk of an obituary writer.” As Umile notes, the art of obituary writing experienced quite a popularity surge in 2012. Times public editor Margaret Sullivan wrote about the regularity with which obituaries appeared on A1 in the paper, and the column even warranted the creation of its own dedicated Twitter account.
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E-Books Get Pricey
As e-book sales increase, their prices have inched upward. But will customers pay $10 to $15 for a digital book? Will you?
Revenge Book Trailer
Behold the creepy beauty of the book trailer for Revenge, Yoko Ogawa’s latest collection of stories. It’s a collection haunted not only by the shadow of Haruki Murakami, writes NPR’s Alan Cheuse, but also “the shadow of Borges.”
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Vintage Interview with Jaimy Gordon
While you’re waiting to get your hands on Lord of Misrule, the National Book Award winner by Jaimy Gordon, Gargoyle Magazine posts an interview with Gordon from 1983. (via The Paris Review).
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