Out this week: Catapult by Emily Fridlund; Ferocity by Nicola Lagioia; The Power by Naomi Alderman; Crimes of the Father by Thomas Keneally; A Scattering and Anniversary by Christopher Reid; The Unstill Ones by Miller Oberman; The Secret Life by Andrew O’Hagan; and Devotions by Mary Oliver. For more on these and other new titles, go read our most recent book preview.
Tuesday New Release Day: Fridlund; Lagioia; Alderman; Keneally; Reid; Oberman; O’Hagan; Oliver
More on Reading Rainbow
My mom reacts to Reading Rainbow’s demise and points out that the show didn’t have to go and other less edifying programming is eluding the funding crunch.
When Technology Knows You Better Than You
Psychotherapist Ariel Garten redefines consciousness at TEDx Toronto. “The problem with escaping your day-to-day life,” she says, “is that you have to come home eventually.” Her question, which she answers in the affirmative, is whether we can “find ways to know ourselves without the escape? Can we redefine our relationship with the technologized world in order to have the heightened sense of self-awareness that we seek? Can we live here and now in our wired web, and still follow those ancient instructions: ‘Know thyself’?”
OWS lit down the line?
Christian Lorentzen wonders, in Book Forum, what the first OWS novels will be like. He anticipates them showing up next year, but I’m thinking we’ve already got at least two, though they were both published well before Occupy: Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story ought to fit the bill, and, of course, there’s that famous Melville story about Wall Street, but I’d prefer not to talk about it when I could just direct you to Hannah Gersen’s piece instead.
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A Longjohn’s Journey Into Night
For only $1,750, you can buy Eugene O’Neill’s monogrammed boxers at Johnnycake Books.
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Murakami’s Jazz
Haruki Murakami’s love for jazz is no secret – he used to own a jazz bar, he’s written full essay collections on the music, and his books are peppered with references to jazz songs and musicians. How fitting, then, that there’s finally a playlist of jazz songs mentioned in Murakami’s writings. Pair with our many past essays on Murakami.
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