Weird: France & Belgium
In Moominland
"After [WWII], the other Finnish artists formed themselves into political groups but Tove wasn’t a joiner; besides, the only political activity she enjoyed was tyrant-baiting. She decided to emigrate to the island kingdom of Tonga but the governor wrote back saying there was a housing shortage and she wouldn’t be welcome. So she created her own Tonga: Moominland." A new biography looks at the "conflicted life" and creative work of Tove Jansson, whose name has appeared several times here at The Millions.
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End Games
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Back for More
Last week, I mentioned Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes, which caused a stir in Germany with its tale of a time-hopping Hitler. Now, Daniel Torday reviews the book for the Times, judging it both for its historical research and its merits as a work of fiction. Sample quote: “The German public’s acceptance of the artist they think they’re watching provides a critique of pop culture. But it feels like bringing the Luftwaffe to a knife fight.”
Two Dollar Radio Moving Pictures
Indie press Two Dollar Radio announced today that they’re launching Two Dollar Radio Moving Pictures, a micro-budget film division. They’ll open with three new projects (announcement video here) funded by a newly-opened IndieGoGo campaign. Donors will not only be contributing to a worthwhile venture from one of America’s best small publishers, but they’ll also be in line to receive a heap of sweet perks from the likes of Grace Krilanovich, Karolina Waclawiak, Joshua Mohr, and Scott McClanahan. Bonus: publisher (and Millions contributor) Eric Obenauf spoke with Paul Martone for the Late Night Library podcast.
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“I Do (Plan To Read That)”
Attention, lovebirds! Amanda Bullock put together a list of “29 Things You Must Read Before You Get Married.”
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Tuesday New Release Day: King, Eco, Schulze, Vonnegut, Catherine, Gallaway
Another packed line-up: New this week is Stephen King's 11/22/63, Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetary, Ingo Schulze's, and Adam and Evelyn (all three of which were previewed by us). We also have new biographies of Kurt Vonnegut and Catherine the Great. And new in paperback, sometime Millions contributor Matthew Gallaway's The Metropolis Case.
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Movie Poster Marketing Philosophy
Have you ever wondered why so many movie posters employ the "tilting horizon" effect? One marketer is here to explain why. Now, if only someone could explain why no movie posters are original anymore...
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Curiosities: Pretend Lunch
In Open Letters, Sam Sacks writes "Quietude is godliness in Lark & Termite" and traces Faulkner's influence on the new book.n+1 on the 10th anniversary of Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time": "After her came the deluge: the end of the record industry as we know it, yes, but also the end of America as it used to conceive of itself."Soft Skull's Richard Nash on how to publish in a recession at Conversational Reading.William Safire on "the deluge of books occasioned by the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth." Millions reader Scott says, "I wish the Book Review would do a LOT more of this kind of stuff."The Internet is amazing I: J! Archive, "The fan-created archive of Jeopardy! games and players - 160,032 clues and counting!"The Internet is amazing II: The NY Times has a crossword puzzle blog.Maud Newton in Granta: "Exactly how long the prostitute, unbeknownst to my father, stayed at our house and slept in my bed is hard to gauge.""Sometimes, instead of eating alone, I pretend I'm having lunch with American literary legends. Today's pretend guest was Cormac McCarthy."Is MacKinlay Kantor's Andersonville "the best Civil War novel ever?" (via)At Jacket Copy, Carolyn discovers Faulkner and Delillo in the Sports Illustrated archive.Sara Paretsky: "My editor tells me this is the last time the company will let her send me a marked manuscript."Jenny Davidson on her special pencils.Dan Radosh exposes yet another tired journalistic cliche.The novel of manners, with zombies:: Pride and Prejudice and ZombiesIn praise of the long sentence. (Hear, hear!)
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