New this week: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride; Night Film by Marisha Pessl; The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer; The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally; and Holy Orders, a new Quirke novel by John Banville/Benjamin Black. For more on these and other upcoming releases, check out our Great 2013 Second-Half Book Preview.
Tuesday New Release Day: Pessl, Shomer, McBride, Keneally, Banville/Black
The Desert Oracle Gives You the Desert
Pacific Standards profiles Ken Layne who quietly started the popular quarterly literary magazine, Desert Oracle for a town of 8,000 people. Now it has gained far more readers than that as it highlights works related to the American desert. "The reason that the Oracle works is that it's always trying to elicit that feeling, the awe and wonder that the desert reveals to you when you listen hard enough. Layne believes it's not an accident that religious awakenings, UFO sightings, walkabouts, and other revelations occur in the desert. It's a consequence of solitude, stark beauty, and the tenacious life that only the desert has."
The Help: Feel-Good or Offensive?
Though it had a promising box office debut, The Help is ruffling some feathers for its portrayal of African American women. Roxane Gay sums things up nicely for The Rumpus.
Stars and Bodies
Recommended listening: David Naimon interviews Sarah Gerard, author of Binary Star, about "anorexia and astronomy, stars and bodies." Pair with Alex Norcia's Millions review of Gerard's novel here.
Tuesday New Release Day
On shelves this week are Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey, The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall, and a provocative new book by Philip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.
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Tim Burton’s Rejection Letter
Letters of Note posts the rejection letter aspiring artist Tim Burton received in 1976 (when he was 18) for his children's book, "The Giant Zlig," that he sent to Walt Disney in hopes that they would publish it.