August 15, 2012 On the Shelf Gatsby, Sexting, and Rand By Sadie Stein An original ad for The Great Gatsby, found in a 1925 issue of The Princetonian. “My decade-long enamor with the poets and writers of the Beat Generation was about to pay off. As the only woman who adored Kerouac, I would be the vixen of the literary matchmaking board.” At the Millions, Stephanie Nikolopoulos on the Jack Kerouac gender divide. In which Ayn Rand explains Objectivism on the Johnny Carson show. “I think you’ll find her most unusual,” says he. Poet Ron Silliman lost his library in a flood; help him reassemble it. O tempora: new inductions into Merriam-Webster include f bomb, man cave, and sexting. A full list here. On the other hand, the more things change, et cetera. This 1950 Library Journal asks if new media is rendering reading obsolete. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 14, 2012 On the Shelf Dahl, Maps, The Royal Tenenbaums By Sadie Stein The new Vogue features contemporary authors as members of Edith Wharton’s circle and was shot at the Mount. Look for Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Junot Díaz as Henry James, Morton Fullerton, and Walter Van Rensselaer Berry. (Wharton herself is played by model Natalia Vodianova.) Essential cartography books. Bookshelf of the day: a literary staircase. The hundred best-selling British books of all time. (The usual suspects, plus Eats, Shoots and Leaves.) The books from The Royal Tenenbaums, actualized. “For material things, we were fortunate, but it was not a happy beginning to my life.” Tessa Dahl talks about the difficulties of growing up with her famous father. Perhaps sensationalism is no shock in The Daily Mail, but we defy you not to be taken aback by Roald’s penchant for home-medicating his children.
August 13, 2012 On the Shelf Rich Writers, Niche Bookstores, Darwin By Sadie Stein Check out the handmade books of Berlin-based Palefroi. Maria Papova presents the literary jukebox, in which quotes are matched to thematic songs. Forbes lists the highest-grossing authors. A salute to niche bookstores of the world. The fate of dead books: a history of pulping. Prior to proposing to Emma Wedgwood, Charles Darwin did a cost-benefit analysis of marriage, with one of the deficits listed as “less money for books.” [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 10, 2012 On the Shelf Conrad Signals, Server Signs By Sadie Stein Because it is Friday, a Joseph Conrad bat signal. A pair of Irish researchers have determined that Homer’s epics are (partially) based in fact. “We’re not saying that this or that actually happened, or even that the individual people portrayed in the stories are real … We are saying that the overall society (that emerges from the stories) and interactions between characters seem realistic.” The son of John Steinbeck has publicly objected to the invocation of Of Mice and Men to justify the Texas execution of a mentally handicapped man. Celebrate Julia Child’s centenary with these ten titles. If you wish to rakishly mix your media, here is how to make a screen saver from your favorite book cover. The secret language of restaurants; or, how your waiter knows who gets what. And how did you celebrate Book Lover’s Day? [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 9, 2012 On the Shelf Buy Elvis’s Library Card By Sadie Stein Elvis Presley’s 1948 library card can be yours. At thirteen, The King checked out The Courageous Heart: A Life of Andrew Jackson For Young Readers from his high-school library. We appreciate this peek into book psychology by one who should know, Waterstones: “Being books, and not understanding most things beyond their limited understanding, the books attribute most events to Father Christmas.” Adam Gopnik remembers Robert Hughes. Some encouraging bookstore news, for a change: on their Kickstarter page, the founders of Singularity & Co. explain that their mission is to “choose one great out of print work or classic and/or obscure sci-fi a month, track down the people that hold the copyright (if they are still around), and publish that work online and on all the major digital book platforms for little or no cost.” In 2013, John Banville will bring Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe back from the dead under his crime-writing nom de guerre, Benjamin Black. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
August 8, 2012 On the Shelf Psychos, Pencils, and Fines By Sadie Stein This terrific German blog gives the pencil its due (and, perhaps, then some). In a time when e-books outsell their paper counterparts, NPR wonders whether cover design is a dying art. In a gesture of either great magnanimity or great desperation, the Chicago Public Library waives all fines. Movies you may not have known were inspired by books. (In the case of Psycho, probably because Hitchcock tried to buy up all the copies so there’d be no “spoilers.”) On the one hand, we take issue with some of the rankings on this list of the hundred greatest young-adult novels. On the other, it’s encouraging to know kids are voting. (At least, we hope that’s the explanation.) In obligatory Fifty Shades of Grey news, author E. L. James is curating an album of the classical music featured in the trilogy. (For the uninitiated: in addition to being the world’s youngest billionaire and most accomplished lover, Christian Grey is also a world-class musician.) [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]