Our own Mark O’Connell has an excellent piece over on The New Yorker‘s books blog detailing his propensity to abandon burritos books, even good ones, halfway through.
Finish that book. Finish that burrito.
Jason Segel’s DFW
Recommended viewing: a trailer for the upcoming David Foster Wallace movie, an adaptation of David Lipsky's memoir of his road-trip with the author, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, is now available online.
The Book of a Young Girl
Anne Frank’s copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales is up for auction, including her signature on the book’s flyleaf. "This book really is the springboard from which her nascent literary career and dreams of being a writer were launched," said Nicholas Lowry, president of Swann Auction Galleries.
●
●
The Neglected Nobelist, Neglected No More
Henrik Pontoppidan, the Danish novelist, won the 1917 Nobel Prize for literature. His masterpiece, Lucky Per, has never been available in English. Now - lucky for us - it is. Frederic Jameson reviews it for The London Review of Books.
●
●
Nimble Publishing
VQR has published an essay by Chris Fischbach of Coffee House Press that provides an overview of some of the innovative small presses at work today. Fischbach specifically mentions Tin House, Melville House and Two Dollar Radio as "nimble" publishing houses that "can try things big publishers might not find worthwhile or consistent with the aims of a traditional publishing program," such as producing micro-budget films or illustrated versions of classic works of literature.
●
●
Tuesday New Release Day: Irving, Morrison, Mantel, Colbert, Patchett
Time to dust off the old John Irving Recurring Themes Matrix because his new book In One Person is out today. Also out are Home by America's last Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison and Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel's hotly anticipated sequel to Booker- and Rooster-winning Wolf Hall. Also out is I Am a Pole, Stephen Colbert's "children's book" that was inspired by an epic visit from Maurice Sendak. Out in paperback is Ann Patchett's State of Wonder.
●
●
Get Your Tissues
The first trailer for the film adaptation of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is out. Expect a lot of Oscar nominations and tears.
●
●