“It’s not often that I find myself brandishing my copy and yelling, ‘This book.This book! at my husband, but I had that pleasant, awed, envy-inducing reaction.” We obviously love a good end-of-year reading roundup, and BOMB Magazine has “Looking Back on 2016” with entries from Jonathan Lethem, Will Chancellor, and other artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers.
YiR, BOMB Edition
Tintin Ruling
Good news for Tintinologists, if not guards of political correctness: Tintin in the Congo has been deemed “not racist” by a Belgian judicial adviser.
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Steve Jobs Goes Graphic
Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has been immortalized in books, documentaries, and TV specials, with rumors that his story might eventually make its way to the big screen. Now you can add graphic novel to that list; on Tuesday PC Magazine noted the release of The Zen of Steve Jobs.
“A Novel” Reminder
Eliza Brooke for Vox explains why the seemingly obvious phrase "A Novel" still appears on book covers and spines today.
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“No law books, no text books, no science books. ONLY POETRY!”
The Paris Review profiles the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, located in Cambridge, MA and one of two all-poetry book stores in the nation. And speaking of bookstores – if you’re visiting Boston for AWP 2013, Ploughshares has got a whole list of literary landmarks for you to explore.
[Video Goes Here]
“We’re seeing a year-on-year decline of text … If I was having a bet I’d say: video, video, video.” Nicola Mendelsohn, head of Facebook’s European, Middle Eastern, and African regions, believes that the written word is going the way of the dodo.
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The Paper New Orleans Needs
With the erosion of the 175-year-old Times-Picayune, New Orleans will soon be one of the largest metro areas without its own major newspaper publishing every day. Over at The Atlantic, Emily Badger explains the sad saga of its demise as well as the complexities and uncertainties yet to come.
A Bolaño Gallery Show
“Rockslide Sky,” an exhibition of art inspired by Roberto Bolaño‘s story “Gomez Palacio,” has just completed its run at Fordham University’s Center Gallery/Lipani Gallery…but a slideshow lives on in cyberspace. (I like feel this one would have made a nice cover for Last Evenings on Earth, but Bolañophiles may want to click through all 18.)