Recommended viewing: Katrina Whalen’s short film adaptation of Charles Portis’s “I Don’t Talk Service No More.” Pair with our own Bill Morris’s review of Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany.
Out of Service
Needs More Filigree
Kate Heart has put together an array of charts breaking down the covers of 2011’s Young Adult fiction. Spoiler: the average book featured filigree and a white girl whose head is “mostly/ completely missing.”
Behind the Red Pen
Last week, our own Edan Lepucki interviewed her copyeditor. This week at Tin House, executive editor Michelle Wildgen reflects on what she has learned from being both an editor and writer. Her biggest discovery: “The whole thing should be a conversation.”
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Spiegel & Grau turns to indies for help
Shaken by scathing reviews from The New York Times and The Washington Post, Yann Martel‘s publisher turns to independent bookstores for help.
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A Political Wrinkle in Time
A deleted passage from A Wrinkle in Time has been rediscovered and released, and it spells out a more nuanced political philosophy for the novel. That’s what The Wall Street Journal is saying, anyway.
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The Familiar Foreigner
“Familiar, well-behaved stories are dressed in nice book covers and sent to our bookstores; from there they march to our homes in an orderly manner.” On Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and how publishing understands the immigrant narrative. Pair with our review of Adichie’s second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Signs of the Apocalypse: Jersey Shore, the Novel
For those who don’t believe in the decline of civilization, new evidence: Snooki has written a novel. Generously, The Wall Street Journal has read it so you don’t have to.
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Steve Jobs
60 Minutes aired a great overview of Walter Isaacson‘s bestselling (yet just released today) Steve Jobs biography. The book was also reviewed by Janet Maslin for The New York Times.
Outrage
Barry Ritholtz, the godfather of financial blogging (and not your typical Occupy Wall Street protester) calls the U.S. a “corporate monarchy” and wonders “Why have the Europeans figured out they are getting screwed, and we haven’t?“
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