The Wall Street Journal explores the phenomenon of the million-dollar literary debut. Pair with Edan Lepucki’s Millions interview with her agent about publishing a first book.
Betting Big
Identity Crisis
Recommended Reading: Our own Ismail Muhammad on a new book of essays by Durga Chew-Bose.
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The End of the Rainbow
I’m feeling surprisingly broken up about this: Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday.
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L’Chaim
You may have heard that X-Files star David Duchovny published a novel last week. The
book, which developed out of an idea Duchovny had in college, centers on a teenage cow named Elsie who befriends a Yiddish-speaking pig. At Salon, Anna Silman interviews the actor/author, who talks about his book’s allegorical nature and his rumored beef with Vancouver.
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Paddington Gets a Trailer
The theatrical trailer for the movie adaptation of Michael Bond’s beloved children’s classic, Paddington, was released this week. The film will star the likes of Sally Hawkins, Colin Firth, and Nicole Kidman, and it will be released in theaters later this year.
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Zen and the Art of Headlines
This handy guide from The Week shows how to identify which website a headline comes from, from Gawker to The New York Times. Pair with Janet Potter’s Millions piece on rewriting book titles to get more clicks.
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Whither the Bookshops?
The 1.5 million people who live in the Bronx lack a general interest bookstore, classifying their borough as one of a growing number of “book deserts” across the country. To combat this trend, the National Book Foundation just launched “The Book Rich Environment Initiative.” Meanwhile, Juma’a Ali runs a popular bookshop in a UN-administered refugee camp near the South Sudanese city of Malakal.
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Miranda July, Craigslist Reseller
Miranda July’s new project, It Chooses You, is a store based on her new book (published by McSweeney’s) of the same name. The store, at Partner’s and Spade in SoHo, is an exercise in buying belongings from New York-area Craigslist sellers and reselling the contents for the exact same price.
Bean Scene
Writers finally have a justification for their $4.00 latte habit. Even though coffee might be a detriment to imagination, the whirring of blenders and cafe chatter can boost creativity. If you want the inspiration jolt without the java, listen to Coffitivity’s recording of cafe ambient noise.
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