New today are Peter Carey’s The Chemistry of Tears and China Mieville’s Railsea. And Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 is now out in a snazzy three-volume boxed-set paperback edition.
Tuesday New Release Day: Carey, Mieville, Murakami
Surrounded by Books
“There’s something profoundly sad about being surrounded by books and unable to find anything to read.” Sadie Stein writes on finding something to read. If you need a recommendation, check out our Most Anticipated list.
On Colors and the Mind
Here’s a fascinating article by Aatish Bhatia about “how we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains.” Grab a seat; this is a good one.
The Dead Author’s Home
J.D. Salinger‘s house is on the market and generating plenty of buzz, but before you make an offer consider “what does it mean to want to live in a dead writer’s house? When does fandom devolve into idolatry?”
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Wonders of Wonderbook
This one goes out to all the visual learners out there. Here’s a helpful, illustrated guide to writing scenes and stories with Jeff VanderMeer, author of the bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. Bonus: here’s an interview by VanderMeer with author Richard House from earlier this year.
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You’re Watching it Wrong!
“[From Russia With Love]’s lack of newness prevented connection with the audience. Scratch that. It wasn’t the film’s fault. It was the audience’s.”
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A DeLillo Retrospective
In its recently released third issue, The Point – a terrific Chicago-based journal of ideas – takes up the vexed question of Don DeLillo‘s literary significance.
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Reading Tonight at Housing Works
New York-area readers are invited to come tonight to Housing Works bookstore in SoHo, where I’ll be appearing at 7 p.m. alongside the Norwegian wunderkind Johan Harstad. We’ll be reading from and discussing A Field Guide to the North American Family and Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? Music courtesy of Brooklyn’s The Sweaters (not to be confused with The Cardigans.)
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