January 17, 2013 On the Shelf Didactic Seuss, and Other News By Sadie Stein If Dr. Seuss books were titled according to their subtexts, they would be harder to read. Conversely, can you ID these books from their phantom covers? It’s nearly impossible! A cache of Robert Burns manuscripts and letters has been discovered—a major find. The 2013 Yale Writers’ Conference is now accepting applications. Je Banach will lead a seminar on literary discourse; visiting faculty includes Tom Perrotta, Susan Orlean, and ZZ Packer. “By all means be experimental, but let the reader be part of the experiment.” Sebald’s writing tips, compiled by his students.
January 16, 2013 On the Shelf Writing in Jewish, and Other News By Sadie Stein The literature of Washington, D. C.? Ah, the old “I let an author stay in my house and he published ridiculous things about me” conundrum. Children, it seems, like real books. Philip Roth: “I don’t write in Jewish, I write in American.” Here is a house constructed around an enormous bookshelf.
January 15, 2013 On the Shelf Conspiracy Theories, and Other News By Sadie Stein Literary conspiracy theories, anyone? Paragraph is a new app that curates great short stories. (Yes, we are represented!) And, inevitably, iambic pentameter bots. What would Jesus eat? The subgenre of Christian cookbooks. And … the National Book Critics Circle finalists are announced.
January 14, 2013 On the Shelf Bookless Libraries, and Other News By Sadie Stein Meet the bookless library, if you dare. If that fills you with fear, here is a beautiful antique barn filled with books. A Murakami calendar? There is indeed an app for that. A tribute to Aaron Swartz.
January 11, 2013 On the Shelf How to be a Bureaucrat, and Other News By Sadie Stein How to query an agent: a guide. If you’d rather be a Chinese bureaucrat, well, here’s a guide to that. “However disgraceful or unprincipled you may think the scribblers of today, rest assured that their eighteenth-century equivalents were at least as bad and probably worse. Furthermore, the laments and recourses of struggling writers have changed very little in the past three centuries.” Revise, revise, revise. An enormous book donation helps Sandy-ravaged schools get back on their feet.
January 10, 2013 On the Shelf Lost Ferraris, and Other News By Sadie Stein Have you written a novel’s worth of e-mail this year? Possibly. Another question: Is it any good? Richard Blanco is the lucky poet who will read at the 2013 presidential inauguration! This in turn leads Slate, in Slateish form, to ask, “Can Richard Blanco Write a Great Inaugural Poem? Can Anyone?” Patricia Cornwell is suing a former (emphasis on the former) financial manager: “It is a tale of an alleged betrayal, fraud, of high-rollers, multimillion-dollar homes, a helicopter, a lost Ferrari, a rare book collection, and political donations to Hillary Clinton.” This piece is about how libraries are staying relevant by moving beyond reading, but classes like hog butchering and blacksmithing seem like much more of a throwback to the days when you picked up your books at the general store.