“Every journal is a confessional. If it’s in the first person, it cannot help but be. Unless the author of it lies to himself—and that makes it even more of a confessional. For some reason, travel brings out confessions one would never make at home. I am trying to draw the rake of my journal over the landscape. Perhaps I will uncover something.” Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s new collection of travel journals, Writing Across the Landscape, is out now. Travel on back to The Millions for Kate McCahill’s essay on traveling with books.
Salton Sea as Holy Land
Colson Whitehead’s Two Types of Books
“There’s only two kinds of books, shit you like, and shit you don’t like," Colson Whitehead told the crowd in his lively AWP Keynote.
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On The Road On The Screen
Francis Ford Coppola’s movie adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road may finally see the light of day. The film, directed by Walter Salles and starring the likes of Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, and Steve Buscemi, could hit French theaters as early as March 23rd.
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“a video a lone a last a loved a long the / riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s”
Open Culture dug up the only known recordings of James Joyce reading his own work. Maybe Finnegans Wake will make a bit more sense to you when you hear its thunderwords spoken out loud.
Critiques for Charity
We’ve seen a lot of interesting literary fundraisers (and are still a bit in awe of Catstarter) but a recent campaign goes beyond the usual Kickstarter: a group of well-known American writers, from Heather McHugh to Philip Levine to Rebecca Makkai, will be selling manuscript critiques later this month to benefit Caregifted.org.
Project Yosemite
Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty’s Project Yosemite is “an ongoing adventure to timelapse Yosemite in a extreme way.” Their first video is (ahem) extremely beautiful.
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The Guardian’s Books of the Year
The Guardian‘s Books of the Year feature should get you warmed up for our forthcoming Year In Reading series. We’ve wrangled together some great names this year. You can whet your appetite with our 2010 installment.
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This Week’s New Releases
A.S. Byatt’s new novel The Children’s Book has won a ton of praise overseas – it may take home the Booker tonight — and now it’s finally available in the States. Meanwhile, Michael Chabon is trying his hand at memoir with his new book, Manhood for Amateurs.