Thanks to the success of the recent Muppets movie, the BBC is developing a “teatime chat show to be fronted by a new puppet.”
Will It Have a British Accent?
With One Eye Squinted
“I can with one eye squinted take it all as a blessing.” The New Yorker reports on “Flannery O’Connor‘s Manhattan Memorial” and pitch-perfect quotation.
Tuesday New Release Day: Gass, Dee, Gaddis
New this week: Middle C by William H. Gass, A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee, and the Letters of William Gaddis.
Mieko Kawakami on Her Favorite Murakami Story
Mieko Kawakami discusses the measured mastery behind her favorite short story by Haruki Murakami, "Tony Takitani."
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My Ears! My Ears!
In a move that could scar you for life, Gilbert Gottfried reads selected passages (Very NSFW!) from E L James’ breakout book Fifty Shades of Grey.
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Could the internet save book reviews?
Sarah Fay, associate editor of The Paris Review, has a piece in The Atlantic on the digitization of book reviewing, framed beautifully by references to George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Confessions of a Book Reviewer.” She praises Bookslut, Nancy Pearl, Goodreads, and The Los Angeles Review of Books for their collective skills of recommendation, reviewing, and New Criticism. I’d add The Quarterly Conversation, The Rumpus, The New Inquiry, The Morning News (for their annual Tournament of Books feature), and of course, The Millions.
A Cleaner List
As promised, Amazon has removed the free ebooks from its Kindle bestseller list and now shows two lists: freebies and books you actually have to pay for.
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Motherless Brooklyn on Screen
Edward Norton has wanted to adapt Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn since it came out, but finding financing was almost as difficult as solving Frank Minna’s murder. Now, Brett Ratner has agreed to fund the film with Norton directing and starring as Lionel Essrog.
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