In the Times, Dwight Garner reviews the new edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations, a compendium of quotes from notable black writers dating from ancient times to the present. Among other figures, Thurgood Marshall, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston and Cory Booker all have quotes in the book.
“What does any human being want?”
The Roberto Bolaño Bubble
“The continued publication and popular packaging of [Roberto Bolaño’s] incomplete work may actually be diluting his reputation as a writer of varied talents and fearless ambition.” Sam Carter is wary of The Roberto Bolaño Bubble.
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Goosebumps Turns Twenty
Two decades after the release of the first Goosebumps book, Jen Doll checks in with R. L. Stine.
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The Onion Remembers Salinger
The Onion headline Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger: "In this big dramatic production that didn't do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud."
Rooster Starter Kit
The Morning News Tournament of Books is around the corner (less than two weeks away, in fact) and readers can now download the bracket (pdf), print it out, and start scribbling in their picks. Along with the bracket, Andrew Seal offers up an array of intriguing statistics from past tournaments. So, now that you can make an educated guess, Who do you think is going to win this year?
Crime and Punishment
Johnny Depp’s latest film, Black Mass, which casts the star as Whitey Bulger, hit theaters on September 18th. At Publishers Weekly, author T. J. English argues that Where the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him is necessary to the canon of literature on Bulger, even if it's the 16th book about the mobster.
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Sublimely Bad?
Are you lover or writer of florid longwinded codswollop? The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest might be for you.
Reviews for the King
Some reviews of Dave Eggers's new novel, Hologram for the King, are starting to appear: Carolyn Kellogg writes that the story is accessibly though "elegantly told," and Michiko Kakutani describes the prose as almost surprisingly "pared down" and "Hemingwayesque."
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JSTOR and Wikipedia Partnership
In an effort to help Wikipedia become a more reliable source, ITHAKA has agreed to provide 100 of the site’s editors with free access to the complete archive collections on JSTOR.