The Guardian has an excerpt of My Ideal Bookshelf, with pieces by Judd Apatow, David Sedaris and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, available for viewing on its website. Take a guess which one said Raymond Carver makes writing fiction look easy.
The Platonic Library
Turing Geoff Dyer’s Frown Upside Down
"The Dyer visage in repose, its default setting, is that of a man whose jam has regularly been stolen from his doughnut." Despite how he is prone to frowning, Geoff Dyer believes a smile can make the world a better place.
Nowhere, Indiana
"Only the moon can judge Indiana. It’s a state that mostly gets ignored, and occasionally ridiculed, by the rest of the country, but no matter. Anyone is welcome to come here and see a reflection of themselves in the unlikeliest places, no matter what any law says." Adam Fleming Petty on "Writing from the Nowhere State."
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The Posterity Problem
Measuring a writer's success is tricky. An author might make The New York Times Bestseller List now but only be a footnote in an encyclopedia a century later. At The Guardian, D.J. Taylor wonders what contributes to a writer's posterity and concludes a pushy publisher or sponsor is often a writer's best asset. Pair with: Our essay on how John Updike fans attempt to maintain his reputation.
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Make Your Own Aphrodisiacs
Husband and wife writing duo Matthew Seal and Julie Bruton-Seal will launch their new book, Make Your Own Aphrodisiacs, just in time for Valentine's Day. The couple, who live in Britain, (and who are by no means spring chickens), are encouraging people to look at natural ways of boosting their libido and to remove some of the myths and taboos surrounding aphrodisiacs.
Pump the longreads at SXSW
Our own founding editor C. Max Magee is teaming up with our friends at The Bygone Bureau and The Morning News to give a panel discussion at SXSW Interactive 2013 on the future of independent longform writing on the web. If you wanna see the panel make it to Austin, head over the SXSW site to give us your vote. You can register to vote here.
Tuesday New Release Day: Baxter, McElroy, McSweeney’s, Carey
New out this week is Gryphon, Charles Baxter's new collection of stories. Joseph McElroy also has a new collection of stories out, Night Soul. The latest McSweeney's (featuring that fragment from an abandoned novel by Michael Chabon) is now available, and new in paperback is Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America. Many more new books to look forward to, of course, in our massive preview published last week.
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