Wednesday Linkstorm
Sup heretics! It's Arthur Miller's birthday. See you tonight for an impromptu performance of The Crucible w/ you in every role (see above).Has the winner of Man Booker ever failed to disappoint me? No! Do I keep coming back for more? Yes! Hilary Mantel won for Some Goddamn Thing About Wolves* and it's like arg can someone cool win one time please?*Might not actually be the title.That new Leonard Cohen bio reviewed in the Times. Also from the Times, J.K. Rowling in By the Book:What was the last book that made you cry? The honest answer is “The Casual Vacancy.” I bawled while writing the ending, while rereading it and when editing it.Haha, is that an actual quote or an excerpt from the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Smug Millionaire Author?Did you guys read that recent Saunders story in The New Yorker? It was good! Imbedded in it was a poem by Tony Hoagland, who is a poet I have heard of. Also of note: a hatchet job of Tom Wolfe's new Miami-set novel Back to Blood that somehow makes me want to read it even more. The New Yorker magazine, you guys! An often excellent publication delivered to my door on what seems like a daily basis.What's up with this book I keep hearing about Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore? Reminds me of that disastrous movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus directed by no one's favorite Python Terry Gilliam.Mo Yan has become the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Now we all blush and feel embarrassed by our inadequate educations and then go read Mo Yan. Let's check in with Mo Yan. Hey Mo Yan, What was the last book that made you cry? The honest answer is “The Casual Vacancy.” I bawled while J.K. Rowling was writing the ending, while she was rereading it and while she was editing it.Some phony has a book coming out based on Catcher in the Rye. But get this: the Holden character is a girl. Ooh, subversive stuff.--Erin Somers