August 8, 2013 On the Shelf To Be or Not To Be? And Other News By Sadie Stein “I don’t want to kill you”: a summer camp based on The Hunger Games. To Be Or Not To Be: That Is the Adventure is, yes, a choose-your-own-adventure take on Hamlet. George Saunders’s much-lauded Syracuse graduation speech is being turned into a book. “What this does is that it immediately puts my writing into the category as a hobby. As in, are you still taking piano lessons, doing macrame, have a parrot? I don’t have a huge ego about my work, but let’s face it, for me it is a job. Yes, for heaven’s sake, I am still writing.” Danielle Steel sounds off.
August 7, 2013 On the Shelf Cities in Books, and Other News By Sadie Stein Texas writer John Graves, author of Goodbye to a River, has died at ninety-two. The secret—but public—New York City Hall Library. “9 Popular Yet Terrible Kids Books,” a doubtless controversial list. An infographic charts the incidence of different cities in literature.
August 5, 2013 On the Shelf Jane Austen Unmentionables, and Other News By Sadie Stein Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award–winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been pulled from the PS 114 sixth-grade reading list based on the following: “And if God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs.” Speaking of the National Book Awards: the gotcha! stunt is as old as time. In the 1970s, a disgruntled writer submitted the manuscript of Jerzy Kosiński’s award-winning Steps (sans famous author name) to publishers and, yep, it was rejected. Did Shakespeare really invent the concept of zero? “Nestling in the middle of my Jane Austen goody bag is a black lace thong.” A visit to the JASNA convention, the Comic Con of Janeites. And a list of well-read TV characters begins with the dog Wishbone, from Wishbone. Happy Monday!
August 2, 2013 On the Shelf The Strange Saga of the Jane Austen Ring, and Other News By Sadie Stein Thwarted in her quest to bring Jane Austen’s One Ring to the U.S., singer Kelly Clarkson has been forced to commission a replica. The Amazon powers that be have ensured that Vonnegut fan fic is now legal, and one can buy it via Amazon. “Bill Pilgrim, unstuck in time, is going to quickly become a Kindle Worlds favorite,” says a member of the Vonnegut trust, ominously. “I stay away from applied fields—it is my only ethical standard as a ghostwriter. I will not help a nurse to qualify on false pretenses: who knows, it might be my parents who find themselves in their care.” Confessions of an essay-mill writer. Presented without comment: “A Massachusetts resident pleaded guilty to stealing over $600,000 worth of books, audiobooks, and Legos.”
August 1, 2013 On the Shelf Defiance, and Other News By Sadie Stein “So many other good books … don’t waste your time on this one. J. D. Salinger went into hiding because he was embarrassed.” And other one-star Amazon reviews of classics. Anthony Weiner spokesperson Barbara Morgan’s recent rant against a campaign intern has led to several discussions of the usage of bag. A Russian novel uses fake Swedish blurbs; publisher is defiant. Speaking of Sweden! $255,000 worth of stolen rare books have been returned to the National Library. J. K. Rowling is planning to donate The Cuckoo’s Calling royalties to the Soldier’s Charity. (You will recall that Robert Galbraith was in the service.)
July 31, 2013 On the Shelf Crystallized Books, and Other News By Sadie Stein It takes some work to decipher this infographic charting writers in prison for nonliterary crimes, but we like that it exists. Larry McMurtry’s epic rare-book auction is now the subject of a documentary. The band Heaven’s new single, “Dandelion Wine,” is named after the eponymous 1957 Ray Bradbury title. Bibliotherapy: exactly what it sounds like. Artist Alexis Arnold’s Crystallized Book series: exactly what it sounds like.