“War isn’t a destination, nor is it a topic to be mined for scribes with nothing else to say … War can be a subject, like any other, and it can be written about well, and it can be written about poorly.” Here is Matt Gallagher, author of the Iraq-war novel Youngblood, in an interview with J.T. Price at Bomb. Last week, Gallagher interviewed another great young novelist/veteran (and winner of the 2014 National Book Award in fiction), Phil Klay.
What Is It Good For?
24-0
Over at The Paris Review, basketball columnist (and really great poet) Rowan Ricardo Phillips has written a compelling essay on Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry, hot streaks, and the tenability of genius. Jacob Lambert’s essay on reading about (and not watching) sports is a nice complement.
●
●
A Drawn Out Illustration
Twelve days after Gustave Flaubert died, a friend cataloged the writer’s personal effects. 48,311 days later, Joanna Neborsky illustrated them.
●
●
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.
●
●
“I’m Waiting for the Man” to stop exploiting our logo
The Velvet Underground is suing to protect its iconic banana logo.
Oldest Books
The fine folks at the Vintage and Anchor Tumblr account have compiled a list of the ten oldest books known to man.
●
●
Different Times
Last week, I wrote about Josh Weil and Mike Harvkey’s joint book tour, which sees the two driving a Prius across America to promote their latest novels. Now, in their latest dispatch, they reflect on the differences between writers like themselves and midcentury writers like Andre Dubus and Norman Mailer.
●
●
Natural Opposition
Recommended Reading: Michele Filgate’s interview with Leslie Jamison, who participated in Year in Reading this year.
●
●