At Full-Stop, Nicholson Baker talks with David Burr Gerard about his new novel, Henry James and the envy he feels for Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. (Related: our own Bill Morris reviewed Baker’s House of Holes.)
“Vague enough to be useful”
It’s Not “Roses Are Red?”
What’s the most quoted line of poetry? The answer, according to Google and M.H. Forsyth, may surprise you.
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Philip Roth to Appear on Colbert
What do you do after you’ve retired but before you’ve won a Nobel Prize? You get interviewed by Stephen Colbert, apparently. (Bonus: How have other authors retired in the past? Let us count the ways.)
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“I was on the edge of crazy.”
Recommended Reading: the first two chapters of Roxane Gay’s novel, An Untamed State, which are available courtesy of Longreads.
The Privilege of Innocence
“Many black parents tell black children to strive; to seize opportunities that will enable upward mobility. However, they also give their children a poison capable of eroding black children’s innocence. They tell them to be twice as good; that there is no room for failure or mistakes.” Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun, writes about how black children are denied the privilege of innocence.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Pynchon, Baker, McNair, Boccaccio
Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, Bleeding Edge, which we covered in several Curiosities, is out this week. Also out: Traveling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker; Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair; and a new translation of Boccaccio’s Decameron by UT-Austin professor Wayne Rebhorn. (For more on these and other upcoming titles, check out our Great 2013 Second-half Book Preview.)
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“Suddenly, a pale fire sprung from his palms.”
Like Game of Thrones? Love reading stories about the Brooklyn literary scene? Well, guess what — the good-humored editors at Full Stop found a way to combine the two.