You may have heard that the pioneering jazz musician Ornette Coleman died last week at the age of eighty-five. As a composer, he was known for his odd melodies, which reliably tested the boundaries of what jazz could accomplish. At The Paris Review Daily, two musicians and writers look back on his legacy.
The Oddity
Smoking Knausgaard
“[E]ach video is a portrait of the artist as a beginner—and a look at the creative process, in all its joy, abjection, delusion, and euphoria.” The Paris Review has a new video series called “My First Time,” in which big-name authors talk about getting their start. Helen DeWitt, Jeffrey Eugenides, Sheila Heti, a chain-smoking Karl Ove Knausgaard – what more could anyone want? More origin stories, that’s what! Six writers – Colum McCann, Alexander Chee, Jami Attenberg, Emily St. John Mandel, Justin Taylor, and Anthony Marra – look back on their first books for us.
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Kindle Now Sells for $114 for Those Who Don’t Mind ‘Special Offers’
Amazon has just dropped the price on the Kindle yet again, but it comes with a big caveat. The Kindle can now be had for $114 if you select a version of the device that peppers you with special offers (Examples: $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card; $6 for 6 Audible Books; etc). Before the purists out there go too crazy, it may be some consolation that these offers appear only on the home screen and screensaver; they don’t interrupt reading.
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To the Stars and Beyond
Very exciting news for space nerds: NASA just opened its research library to the public for free. Pair with our suggestions for the best fiction to send into space.
Emily St. John Mandel on the Cyclical Nature of Pandemics
Our own Emily St. John Mandel on her 2014 novel: "I think the unfortunate reality is that every few years Station Eleven will seem horribly relevant."
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Norman Rush Excerpt and Appearance
Millions contributor Magdalena Edwards just published a piece on Norman Rush in The LA Review of Books. It includes the first published excerpt from his forthcoming novel Subtle Bodies, which will be released in 2013. Additionally, Rush will read in a rare appearance at the Hammer Museum in Westwood tomorrow.