The world’s oldest multicolor print book has just been opened for the very first time, and what does one do with a never-before-seen artistic treasure? Scan and upload it to the internet, of course.
Never Before Seen
How Long ’til Computers Start Buying Books?
Do "algorithms and online recommendations threaten to replace [publishers] as arbiters of quality"? This Economist riff on e-book publishing says so. Elsewhere, at least 20 companies are using computer software instead of human beings to write their articles.
Batuman the Bestseller
Brilliant, funny essay by Elif Batuman about "life after a bestseller," including the time she asked Jonathan Franzen if had any weed. Bonus Link: Batuman at The Millions.
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Toni Morrison and Junot Díaz in Conversation
Recommended Viewing: Toni Morrison spoke with Junot Díaz at the New York Public Library last week, and the organizers were good enough to record the entire conversation and put it online. The talk begins at the 40:09 mark, so you can either fast forward or click this link right here.
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A Conversation With Phillip Roth
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The Vampire Diaries
"Charles Dickens had orphanages and workhouses, the Brontë sisters had the wild moors, and modern writers have high school." So begins L.A. Times television critic Mary McNamara's take on The Vampire Diaries, the CW's answer to Twilight (premiering tonight at 8). The show is loosely based on L.J. Smith's books of the same name and McNamara gives it a qualified thumbs up. She concludes that this latest addition to the vampire canon is "pure froth, but it is very welcome froth, especially in a genre that seems sometimes in danger of taking itself a little too seriously."
The Truth Is Here
Here's a piece of news you likely didn't see coming: David Duchovny has published a novel. Titled Holy Cow, it deals, in the words of interviewer Taffy Brodesser-Akner, with "a traumatized cow, a sassy turkey and a pig converting to Judaism." She talks with the X-Files star in this week's Times Magazine.
1Q84 Coming Fall 2011
According to Millions reader James who emailed Random House, the publisher has plans to put Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 out in fall 2011. Millions contributor Ben has covered much of the news surrounding Murakami's mysterious new novel, which was recently published in Japan, including the recent revelation that there will be a third volume.
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