Fun fact: Up until the late 1940s, science fiction novels really didn’t exist. Andrew Liptak writes about the rise of the paperback novel and the evolution of science fiction for Kirkus Reviews. Pair with Nichole Bernier‘s Millions essay on “The Point of the Paperback.”
Science Fiction and the Paperback Novel
Kandy Kakes and Pathologies
Is anyone else hungry, now? Caution: this review of Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine from The New Inquiry is a real appetite inducer.
DFW’s Nonfiction
Leveling the kind of accusation that perhaps only such an esteemed writer can, Jonathan Franzen intimates that David Foster Wallace‘s nonfiction (such as “Shipping Out“) wasn’t exactly honest.
●
●
Norm Macdonald’s Book Club
“One night, in the spring of 2011, [Norm] Macdonald mentioned his love of literature, and someone suggested he start a Twitter book club. A new account was created (@NormsBookClub) and the club was born. … And then things get a little weird.”
●
●
Soda Series
Tonight at 7pm in Prospect Heights’ Soda Bar: the 10th installment of the Soda Series. Short readings followed by conversation from Roberta Allen, Robin Grearson, John Haskell, and Kirsten Kaschock. The conversations will be moderated by John Dermot Woods and Greg Gerke. The Series also has a Facebook page.
●
●
The View from Out Here
“Sometimes I fear that Midwestern authors are seen from a similar vantage point: that many of us are ‘fly-over writers’ to whom readers wave (or just ignore completely) as they make their way to Saul Bellow and Stuart Dybek and Marilynne Robinson. I fear that these bigger names, along with a few others (Charles Baxter, Lorrie Moore), are seen as exceptions to the general rule that little of cultural worth grows in this flat, middle stretch of the country.” On the plight of the literary Midwesterner.
●
●
Borrowing: It Runs in the Family
Hey, old timers, quit blaming my generation for “irresponsible” borrowing. It turns out folks older than forty own the same amount of student loan debt as folks younger than 30, and you guys have had at least a ten year head start in the workforce.
●
●
Enigmatic, Disturbing Sirens
Marina Warner reviews the “enigmatic and brief” and somewhat disturbing “The Professor and the Siren” for The Paris Review. As luck would have it, our own Sonya Chung reviewed the same story for The Millions.
●
●