See y’all later.
That’s all for me for the week. Check back Monday, when Maud’ll be back. Hopefully by then I’ll get all the empties cleaned up and figure out a way to get those stains out of the carpet.
The White House Drama Club
The Washington Post reports* on a new book by Former Army Sgt. Erik Saar:
The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there [...]
Do NOT go gentle!
National Poetry Month, alas, is nearly through. But it’s never too late to avail yourself. Check out this collection of poetic goodness at Slate. You can read up on the latest. Or you can use poetry to learn about scientific principles.
Over at the Onion, however, they insist that “This month marks the 10th [...]
Some firsts are a bit less celebratory than others
A single lock of hair, “snipped from Charles Dickens’ corpse”, was sold for 3210 pounds when it went up for auction at Bonham’s in London this week:
…very few of his personal belongings have survived as long as his success because Georgina Hogarth, his housekeeper and sister-in-law, gave away or sold many of his relics. [...]
The big red fuck
We had delightful visit from the godson and his parents last weekend. With the five of us here in the urban shoebox, it’s a bit like camping, but inside. Godson is just at the age where toddlers begin acquiring language, and although this will be old news for you parents, we sure had to be [...]
Porn is the least of their problems
Take a shower before heading to the library in Houston, Texas, y’all. But be careful, the backlash has already begun. Look for a few stink-ins to be held in the near future.
In other disturbing library news, Michael Thomas reports that the New York Public Library will be selling off its art collection to pay [...]
Indie bookstore woes, redux
A kind reader points us to the sad news that another of the twin cities’ independent booksellers, Bound to Be Read, will be closing its doors (as well as those of its Albuquerque, NM sister store) this summer.
Bookninja linked the other day to this article from 1999 by David Kornhaber that asserts the now [...]
Happy weekend
That’s it from me for the week.
Vancouver’s Annie Reid, award-winning screenwriter and foremost expert on Kentucky distilleries, takes over tomorrow and most Fridays.
Have a good weekend.
Closing time remainders
Bookninja gets some deserved love from the Canadian press. How, Andrea Curtis wonders, do “bloggers have the time and mental space to create their blog and maintain careers as freelance writers, poets, novelists, editors, etc., while I can barely squeak out 1,000 words before collapsing into bed at 9 p.m.”? (The answer: 1000 [...]
Wind, sand and stars
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince and Wind, Sand and Stars, disappeared while on a spy mission for the Allies during World War II. The wreckage of his plane was positively identified only last year. Although the cause of the crash remains unknown, there is some suspicion that he committed suicide. [...]
Moviegoer movie?
Chris Hewitt holds out hope for a screen adaptation of Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer.
Noted without comment
From today’s New York Times:
Mr. Arterburn stood in front of a giant blowup of his book “Lose It for Life,” which has sold 113,000 copies, some through his New Life radio ministry, which is carried by 150 stations.
“The world hears all these stories that shed a negative light on Christians,” he said. “If you want [...]
Literary obituaries
Augusto Roa Bastos, the Paraguayan author of I, the Supreme, a novel centered on 19th Century dictator Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, has passed on. Roa Bastos won the Cervantes Prize, the most esteemed prize in Spanish letters. He lived in exile for 42 years before returning to Paraguay in the mid-90s. (Thanks to David for [...]
Prisoner released, poems and essays now indefinitely detained in his stead
U.S. authorities released an Afghan detainee from the camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but refused to return the poems and essays he wrote during his three-year confinement:
At first, deprived of paper and pen, Dost memorised his best lines or scribbled them secretly on paper cups. Later, he was supplied with writing materials and made up [...]
Bless our hearts
I thought the Yankee or Dixie Dialect quiz had disappeared forever, but some kind soul has resurrected it here. (Thanks, Andrew.)
In February, 2004, I scored 72% Dixie. Today I got 70%. Am I doomed to lose 2% more of my semi-native tongue with every year I stay in the Northeast?
Longtime readers [...]