“I wanted to tell him: Shut up! You’re ruining my high. People fall in love every single day.” A delightful little Dentist Poem by Daisy Friedman from the archives of The Paris Review.
I Love Candy
Appearing Elsewhere
Today begins the Flatmancrooked LAUNCH of The Millions staff writer Edan Lepucki and her novella, If You’re Not Yet Like Me. Go here to pre-order a copy of the signed and numbered limited first edition.
A Single Sentence
“Sometimes you come across sentences that are like cairns, evidence the trail continues, and you are so grateful to have found them.” For the Tin House blog Jacob Rubin considers one such sentence from Charles D’Ambrosio‘s Loitering, which our own Hannah Gersen reviewed for the Millions.
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Definitive Proof that Everything’s Better in an Irish Accent
Here’s a recording of Colum McCann reading the opening lines of the Amazon Editors’ list of June’s “10 Best Books of the Month”
150 New Mark Twains
Just found: 150 new Mark Twain stories, written when the author was a young newspaperman in San Francisco.
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Springfield, Springfield, It’s a Hell of a Town!
In a big reveal to devout fans like me, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening finally copped to the fictional Springfield’s real-life inspiration: Springfield, Oregon. Of course this matter has been widely pondered before, and was perhaps even answered by Paul Nelson and his cohorts at SNPP.com.
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The History of the Blurb
What if Petrarch had blurbed The Divine Comedy, or Shakespeare, “author of Tony Award-winning sensation Hamlet,” had reviewed Don Quixote? Tom Rachman imagines these blurbs and more for The Rumpus, and his piece pairs well with our brief history of the blurb.
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The Numbers
Some will find Publishers Weekly’s list of top selling books in 2009 endlessly fascinating. The name I was most surprised to see on the list? R. Crumb, whose The Book of Genesis Illustrated apparently sold 119,914 copies last year. (via)
Housing Works OWS Event
On Monday, November 7, at 7PM, n+1 and Housing Works will present the event “Occupy.” Writers and activists will discuss the situation at Zuccotti Park–what it means, how it’s going, and where to go from here. Panelists will include Meaghan Linick, Sarah Resnick, and Astra Taylor, and the conversation will be moderated by Keith Gessen. Free copies of the n+1 OWS-inspired Gazette will be on hand.
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