Wednesday Linkstorm
Annoyingly good essay writer and pizza party enthusiast David Bersell has an essay up on Vol. 1 Brooklyn. Read it one million times.The style sheet for George Saunders' new collection was making the rounds this week. Excerpt: "Prefixes: hyphens okay with coinages ("pre-boner") and unfamiliar combinations ("non-fancy"). Pre-boner!Thomas Beller has an excellent essay up on Tablet about poet, musician, and consummate anti-showman David Berman. On page two he explains what Berman, Stephen Malkmus, and DFW have in common and it becomes almost too good.And because you (I) can't get enough of Thomas Beller and Stephen Malkmus, here is a piece from Carry On for you (me) to enjoy."Even the great anxiety of writing can be stilled for the eight minutes it takes to eat a pineapple popsicle." That's Zadie Smith on joy for NYRB.This year Michael Chabon dug the Patrick Melrose series, Breaking Bad, and the new Bond movie. Me too, Michael Chabon, me too. Spesh when Bond choked out a dude under some ice w/ his leg.Apparently Fifty Shades of Grey spawned a movement in Britain to publish erotica for teens? Haha, yes. If there is one thing teens need it is definitely more parent-sanctioned erotica. I mean, how else would teenagers get their hands on spicy things to read and watch? It's not as if there's a huge, culture-dominating network out there made up of 98% sex stuff that can be piped straight to a personal smut machine ten inches from one's face. (Best description of the Internet you'll read all day.)James Wood picks his favorite books of 2012 for Page-Turner. His picks include I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, Four New Messages by Joshua Cohen, At Last by Edward St. Aubyn, and Zadie Smith's NW, among others. All very good books.All right guys, that's the last Linkstorm of 2012. I'm taking Boxing Day off. See you in 2013. In the meantime, I suggest you hone your New Years resolutions. Mine are:1) Smirk more/better2) Read Ulysses**LieHappy holidays and thanks for reading every single Linkstorm this year, which you did right? I have high hopes for 2013. Our year reader, you and me.