- In the current Atlantic, Lorrie Moore acknowledges that great books typically don’t make great movies. But she identifies five novels she believes to be “improved (in some specific way) by their screen versions.”
- James Wood reviews Muriel Spark’s The Finishing School, which “satirically assails, among other things, the culture of spectacle that has grown up around novel-writing, and in particular around novel-writing by attractive young people.”
- Director, screenwriter and playwright Neil LaBute publishes his first short story collection, Seconds of Pleasure, next month.
- From the Onion’s “There Are So Many Experiences I Want To Write About Having Had“:
Oh, how my soul yearns to write about Europe! If I were ever to visit there, I’m sure I would keep a notebook with me to write down every instance of mind-expanding cultural sophistication.
(Via Rake’s Progress.)
- Isabel Allende backs Greenpeace’s drive to convince British publishers “to use paper from sustainable sources.”
- A.L. Kennedy’s Paradise still hasn’t appeared in the U.S., but our neighbors to the north can buy it.
- Carrie Frye of Tingle Alley reflects on the summer Norman Mailer carried a torch for her mom.
- Debut novelist Terry Brown-Davidson writes about her difficult experiences with agents and publishing.
- The story of Oedipus, in 8 minutes, performed by fresh vegetables, in the tradition of Ben Hur. (Via Chicha.)
- Like the Bookninjas, I’m fascinated by this online history of punctuation. Interrobang!