September 17, 2012 On the Shelf Rejection, Crime, and Gum By Sadie Stein The three types of stories one editor tends to reject. Meet the Agency Review, devoted to books on advertising. The short, strange story of Gatsby gumballs. Oh, dear. An (allegedly) disgruntled author was taken into custody after (allegedly) attacking a San Francisco literary agent. A school project we wish were real. “It was George Orwell’s golden-eyed toad that made me a writer.” Simon Schama on literary inspiration.
August 31, 2012 On the Shelf Signatures, Notes, and Lists By Sadie Stein The evolution of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s autograph. We have long been intrigued by the Strand’s “The Jean Files,” a series of notes, found in books, to a woman named Jean. The latest plea is especially intriguing. Listen to Dylan Thomas read “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” Thank you to Iris Blasi for unearthing this vintage bit of Letterman, um, wit: Top Ten Bookstore Pickup Lines. We may be biased, but are happy to disseminate the following: “According to a new study, people with an active interest in the arts contribute more to society than those with little or no such interest.” [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 30, 2012 On the Shelf The Dark Lady, Potter Gowns By Sadie Stein Ten books that will never be Penguin classics (except in this mock-up). The John Updike Society has purchased the author’s childhood home, with an eye to creating a museum. Politicians’ favorite books. A new candidate for Shakespeare’s mysterious “dark lady” has emerged: a prostitute called “Lucy Negro,” an “arrant whore and a bawde” who worked in Clerkenwell. A dress made of Harry Potter. Naturally. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 29, 2012 On the Shelf Bradbury’s File, The Unified Field By Sadie Stein Seattle band Fleet Foxes is launching an arts and literary journal, The Unified Field. Quoth the L, “Round one features a journal entry penned by recently freed West Memphis 3 member Damien Echols on adjusting to life after eighteen years on death row, an excerpt from Gloria Steinem’s forthcoming book, a photo essay on adolescence by noted rock photographer Autumn de Wilde, a contribution from SPIN’s Charles Aaron, and another from Animal Collective sister/visual collaborator Abby Portner, among 30-plus other pieces.” Proceeds benefit nonprofit 826 National. During the sixties, the FBI kept a file on suspected communist sympathizer Ray Bradbury. According to the bureau’s then-source, “some of Bradbury’s stories have been definitely slanted against the United States and its capitalistic form of governmental.” Kindles don’t have a soporific effect according to one study: “a two-hour exposure to light from self-luminous electronic displays can suppress melatonin by about 22 percent … Stimulating the human circadian system to this level may affect sleep in those using the devices prior to bedtime.” The Marriage Plot hits the small screen. Across languages, “the fundamental colour hierarchy, at least in the early stages (black/white, red, yellow/green, blue) remains generally accepted. The problem is that no one could explain why this ordering of colour exists. Why, for example, does the blue of sky and sea, or the green of foliage, not occur as a word before the far less common red?” [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 28, 2012 On the Shelf Fuzzy Austen, Tipsy Wilde By Sadie Stein The literary felted dolls of My Cozy Classics are, quite simply, delightful. Above, a felted Elizabeth Bennett. Norman Mailer, film director. Exactly how Ladbrokes goes about determining their literary odds. Drink like Oscar Wilde: strongly against your doctor’s orders. The DNA of a successful book. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 24, 2012 On the Shelf Writing: The Great Invention of the World By Sadie Stein “Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.” Margaret Atwood’s rules for writing fiction. “I would like to write another book for children but I spend all my spare time just answering the letters I get from children about the books I have already written.” —E.B. White, 1961. “Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind, through the eye—is the great invention of the world.” Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poetry. Perhaps inevitable but ill-advised: a 50 Shades of Grey book burning. Explains Clare Phillipson, head of the anti-domestic-violence organization Wearside Women in Need, “I do not think I can put into words how vile I think this book is and how dangerous I think the idea is that you get a sophisticated but naive young woman and a much richer, abusive older man who beats her up and does some dreadful things to her sexually.” Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Herman Hesse, a film of his time in Ticino. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]