NY's Funniest Rabbi (Free subscription) | 7 hours ago
– David Kirby Once I got a postcard from Joyce Carol Oates, whose novel Unholy Loves I had reviewed favorably, and on it (the card) she wrote, "I think you must be a fellow Canadian," and I figured, well! That's me, all right: the Mounties, Wayne Gretzky, Margaret Atwood. . . . It wasn't until years later when I found the card again while cleaning up some old files that I saw she had...
Ambling Along the Aqueduct (Free subscription) | yesterday
As you've probably already heard, this year's Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best Books of 2009 is exclusively male-authored. WILLA (Women In Letters And Literary Arts) has issued a press release titled "Why Weren't Any Women Invited To Publishers Weekly 's Weenie Roast." Quoted in The Huffington Pos t, PW confidently admitted that they're “not the most politically correct" choices....
Miami Herald (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
''God gave unto the Animals / A wisdom past our power to see,'' goes a hymn sung by God's Gardeners, the ecologically minded, deeply spiritual but eminently practical religious cult in Margaret Atwood's fire-breathing new novel, The Year of the Flood.
The Mark on the Wall (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Today's Wall Street Journal profiles 11 writers ( Margaret Atwood! Junot Diaz! Edwidge Danticat! Kazuo Ishiguro! ) describing their approach to writing, "a process that can be lonely, tedious, frustrating and exhilarating." excerpt: Dan Chaon writes a first draft on color-coded note cards he buys at Office Max. Ideas for his books come to him as images and phrases rather than plots, characters...
Iron Caisson (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Think Publishers Weekly missed something on their top ten list? Add to The WILLA list Great Books by Women that Publishers Weekly Missed in 2009 ! WILLA's Press Release from November 2, 2009 Why Weren’t Any Women Invited To Publishers Weekly’s Weenie Roast? Publishers Weekly recently announced their Best Books Of 2009 list. In their top ten, chosen by editorial staff, no books written by...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
Campaigners incensed after Publishers Weekly's top 10 titles of 2009 ignores female authors US trade magazine Publishers Weekly has come under fire for failing to include a single woman in its list of the top 10 titles of 2009. From Richard Holmes's history of science in the Romantic generation, The Age of Wonder, to Blake Bailey's Cheever: A Life, Geoff Dyer's novel Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi,...
Divers and Sundry (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
Ah, where were these suggestions back when I was homeschooling? SFSignal (explanations for the answers below are given at that link) asks: Q: If you were teaching a high school literature class, which science fiction or fantasy books first published within the past 10 years would you include on your syllabus? Suggestions (from various authors) include the following, some of which are over 10 years...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
The Bone Church, a narrative work about an ill-fated jungle expedition, appears in November edition Marge Simpson's appearance as its cover girl has attracted a frenzy of media attention, but this month's edition of Playboy magazine contains another, almost equally unexpected celebrity appearance: from author Stephen King, making a very rare outing as a poet. "When travelling to the heart of...
Reading with Tequila (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
Monthly Mixer Mele Hosted by Jen's Book Talk All you have to do is read a book that begins with a letter of each month or read a book that begins with the authors name (first or last name, doesn’t matter). There are 74 letters so you will have to have 74 different books to complete the challenge. Books can however be used to complete other challenges. You don’t have to do the months in...
: micawberesque : (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
For Immediate Release November 2, 2009 Why Weren’t Any Women Invited To Publishers Weekly’s Weenie Roast? Publishers Weekly recently announced their Best Books Of 2009 list. Of their top ten, chosen by editorial staff, no books written by women were included. Quoted in The Huffington Post, PW confidently admitted that they're “not the most politically correct" choices. This statement...
BookLust (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
I have a reading list for Full Suffragette Status on the Women Unbound Challenge! To be a Suffragette, you must read eight challenge books, three of which must be non-fiction. So here's my (tentative and totally likely to be changed) list: Ladies of the Grand Tour: British Women in Pursuit of Enlightenment and Adventure in 18th Century Europe , by Brian Dolan The Road from Coorain , by Jill Ker Conway...
book-a-rama (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Another month, another challenge complete. I actually picked up my reading pace and finished the RIP 4 Challenge just in time. *Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Sept) *Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal (Oct) *We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Oct) *Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason (Oct) *Short Stories by Daphne DuMaurier I read just one book for The 3rd Canadian Book Challenge...
litwindowpane (Free subscription) | 11/01/2009
On this occasion it seems that I’m to act as a kind of symbolic dignitary – writers can’t be actual dignitaries, as they are by nature too undignified – and wield a virtual wand of blessing, like the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio, or wave a banner from a casement window as the young troops ride out to do battle. Gird on your word-swords, I must say to them! Buckle up those adjectives!...
Reading with Tequila (Free subscription) | 11/01/2009
Women Unbound Reading Challenge The challenge runs from November 1, 2009-November 30, 2010 , but you may join in the fun whenever you wish! Participants are encouraged to read nonfiction and fiction books related to the rather broad idea of ‘women’s studies.’ There are three levels you can choose as a reader (you can count books for other challenges as well): Philogynist : read at...
Geoffrey Philp's Blog Spot (Free subscription) | 11/01/2009
Book lovers, get ready to celebrate because the 26th edition of the nation’s finest and largest literary gathering, Miami Book Fair International (Fair), is just around the corner. Presented by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College (MDC), the Fair will take place Nov. 8 – 15 at the college’s Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave., in downtown Miami. The Fair...
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