Dispirited by the deluge of advance review copies and publishing mailers (a plight to which I can relate), Ron Charles decided to forego traditional book criticism for the time being and instead to focus on reviewing something more immediately practical: a bookcase.
Book(case) Criticism
“Finish that Book!”
Recommended reading: An argument for finishing every novel you start.
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Paris, I love you
There’s an excerpt of Rosecrans Baldwin’s new memoir in GQ. Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down comes out next week!
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“This music had some kind of hard edge to it”
Spin has ten selected excerpts from David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello’s re-released exploration of hip-hop, Signifying Rappers. (As always, this slideshow warrants the use of ClusterFake’s handy “De-Slide-Ifier.”)
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ICYMI
“People write to me to let me know that, in case I missed it, there are only two genders.” Year in Reading alum Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts, speaks to The Guardian about gender, family, and her personal life.
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Welcome Jacob!
We’re welcoming another regular to The Millions. You’ll recognize Jacob Lambert from his ongoing series “The Road (A Comedic Translation),” and he’ll be doing more humor pieces for us as well as whatever else he comes up with. Jacob has written for MAD Magazine for several years. He also has a regular column in Philly Weekly and freelances for various other publications. Welcome Jacob!
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The Sampling Deadlock
Legally sampling songs on a hit record is astoundingly expensive. As Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola note in Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Licensing, the Beastie Boys would have lost $19.8 million dollars because of Paul’s Boutique. (via BoingBoing)
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Meet Carey Mulligan
An Education opens this weekend in theaters. Newcomer Carey Mulligan stars and her performance has generated a lot of buzz at Sundance and Cannes. Also starring Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, and Peter Sarsgaard.
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