“In Saigon I always went to sleep stoned so I always lost my dreams, probably just as well, sock in deep and dim under that information and get whatever rest you could, wake up tapped of all images but the one remembered from the day before, with only the taste of a bad dream in your mouth like you’d been chewing on a roll of dirty old pennies in your sleep.” The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time series over at The Guardian soldiers on with its ninth pick, Michael Herr’s Dispatches.
Dispatches From ‘Nam
On the Family
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney introduces us to a few of literature’s dysfunctional families at Electric Literature. For a loving family relationship, check out an interview with Phillip and Lily Lopate, collaborators on Every Father’s Daughter.
The Future of the Book (Studies)
Goucher College announced the creation of a new interdisciplinary minor this week. “Book Studies” will “explore the past, present, and future of the book,” according to the school’s administration. Regarding the “future of the book,” might we recommend our built-in syllabus?
Wednesday Links
As has been much noted elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal landed reclusive Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson to review a recent bio of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. New York explains how the review was arranged. Meanwhile, the New Yorker has John Updike reviewing the book.BLDGBLOG articulates why I love LA so much (and why it is quite possibly the greatest city in the country). For some of my own thoughts on LA, harken back into the deepest archives.Since almost the minute I finished An Army at Dawn, the first installment of Rick Atkinson’s three-part look at the liberation of Europe during World War II, I have been pining for the second book. And now I have it. The Day of Battle covers the war in Sicily and Italy and I will be reading it presently. (It was An Army at Dawn that inspired our lists of World War II fiction and nonfiction.)My alma mater is showing Google Books some love.
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If You Give a Librarian a Cookie
A Cambridge University librarian opened up a rare book from the 16th century...only to find a half-eaten chocolate chip cookie.
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The Organist Arrives
Our friends at The Believer teamed up with Los Angeles radio station KCRW to launch a monthly podcast. Check out the first episode of The Organist to hear from George Saunders, Nick Offerman, Greil Marcus and more.
A Bit Florid
What were your hobbies when you were a teenager? Emily Dickinson collected flowers.
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