If J.D. Salinger had it his way, we would all probably be dead by the time we got to read his unpublished works. However, someone leaked scans of a paperback entitled Three Stories, including the Catcher in the Rye precursor, “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls,” on eBay on Wednesday. You can view the PDF here.
Salinger Snaffu
Link Bomb
The "Bloggies" are back. Looking at this year's nominees, our thoughts from last year still hold true.We try not to rag on the NBCC too much around here, but inadvertently giving your big book recommending initiative the same name as a wildly popular reading-focused social network just smacks of cluelessness.People are still ripping on litblogs. This time, it's Bud eloquently defending our honor.The New Yorker has presented its portfolio of winners in its contest to "redefine Eustace Tilley," the magazine's dapper icon.Free, downloadable mini-books from Chicago's Featherproof BooksDoes Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point hold up in the real world? Not exactly.FSG's Lorin Stein reviews Norman Rush's Mortals: "the most brilliant book of the new century [maybe]."Granta's 100th issue (congrats!) is here. William Boyd's introduction offers up some history on the magazine.Just in time for "Super Tuesday," Michael Chabon throws his hat in the ring for ObamaAttention "Oregon Trail" fans, outdoor equipment company Thule offers a goofy remake of the game. Ah, advertainment. (via)Finally, an important question, answered.
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Our Unhappy Marriage Will Be Revived in Paris
"I Have Inherited The Ancestral Home, But It Is Now A Burden Rather Than A Gift, Which Reminds Me Of Another Burden…The Institution Of Marriage" and every other Modernist novel ever written, via Mallory Ortberg of The Toast.
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Family Matters
Piggybacking off a brief aside in Ian Frazier’s new review of James Agee’s Cotton Tenants, Claire Kelley explores an odd and intriguing question: was Agee related to Walt Whitman? (Related: Mallory Ortberg on the probability that Whitman did the dirty with Oscar Wilde.)
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Inseparable
Male bonding can take many forms, among them the rarely-seen joint book tour, which Mike Harvkey and Josh Weil decided to undertake in support of their new novels. The two write about meeting each other, travelling around America and bouncing ideas off trusted friends in a Salon essay. FYI, our own Bill Morris wrote a piece about his own book tour for The Daily Beast.
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e. e. cummings or YouTuber?
In honor of National Poetry Month, revisit a McSweeney’s article on whether a YouTube commenter or e. e. cummings wrote this line of poetry. Our piece on author parochialism pairs nicely.
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