An author profile in Glamour magazine? Yeah. Not Nicholas Sparks? Yeah. A wonderful 1,500-word profile of Danielle Steel? Yeah. If they’d set the over/under on her output at 100 books, I’d have taken the under. I think most of us would have. Well, she’s written 179 books. I’ve read as many of her books as… Continue reading The discipline of Danielle Steel
Author: steveweddle
What Monty Python taught George Saunders
LitHub had a Q&A with George Saunders, which provided this gem -> Which non-literary piece of culture—film, tv show, painting, song—could you not imagine your life without? Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It comes out of a very smart place that is political and yet never forgets to entertain and self-lacerate and be silly. For… Continue reading What Monty Python taught George Saunders
How to Stream Thousands of Free Movies Using Your Library Card
I read Peter Heller’s The River through OverDrive on my e-reader, thanks to my library card. (The novel was wonderful, despite its rushed ending.) I’ve also got Hoopla installed, and use RB Digital to read The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and more. I mean, I know a little something about using apps/programs to… Continue reading How to Stream Thousands of Free Movies Using Your Library Card
Denis Johnson’s final novel
J. Robert Lennon, who teaches at Cornell and is a heck of a story writer himself, has a piece in The Nation about Denis Johnson’s The Largess of the Sea Maiden and this book’s relation to Jesus’ Son. “I’ve gone looking for that feeling everywhere,” Fuckhead tells us in “Car Crash,” a line that also… Continue reading Denis Johnson’s final novel
The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar
Jack Hitt had an amazing piece in the New York Times about John Kidd, “once celebrated as the greatest James Joyce scholar alive.” Two decades ago, a renowned professor promised to produce a flawless version of one of the 20th century’s most celebrated novels: “Ulysses.” Then he disappeared. Keep reading >>
Island fiction
Laura Elliot (Guilty, Grand Central Publishing) has a clever piece over at CrimeReads in which she runs through the hows and wheres and whys of setting a novel on an island. From the Falklands to the Faroe Islands, from Lehane to Golding, the essay covers some ground. Read it here
New Jay Stringer
The lovely and talented Jay Stringer has a new novel coming out, and you’re going to love it. I dug it when I read it in draft form a while back and Booklist loved it, too. Starred review and all. Well, get on with it, then. Archaeologist-turned-relic-runner Marah Chase, who’s acquired a “reputation” in the Middle… Continue reading New Jay Stringer
7MW
Had another good chat with Jed, Holly, and Chris for the Seven Minutes With podcast. We talked about Russian Doll, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, and FKA Twigs, among others. We came in longer than usual because, there at the end of the show, Jed and I talked through the new Avengers: Endgame movie.
Michael Franks
Monkey See-Monkey Do Before this song came through the shuffle, I had as much idea that Michael Franks existed as he did that I do. The internet tells me: His songs have been recorded by Shirley Bassey, The Carpenters, Kurt Elling, Diana Krall, Patti LaBelle, Lyle Lovett, The Manhattan Transfer, Carmen McRaeand Ringo Starr.
Porochista Khakpour in Guernica, 2010
Ran across this lovely Porochista Khakpour story in Guernica from 2010. The story ticks off a couple literary mag boxes. 1) A man and woman are having domestic trouble, and 2) One of them teaches college classes. Of course, where it goes from there is what makes the story worth your reading. In a sense, it… Continue reading Porochista Khakpour in Guernica, 2010
Steve Weddle 