Quick Hits
July 26, 2012
The Rules: A Brief Instruction Manual for Writing Classes 3
by Joe Griffin
You would think it doesn’t need clarification, but apparently it does: When told to talk about a book you admire, it’s best to choose one you’ve already at least opened.
July 9, 2012
Exclusive: The First Lines of Zadie Smith’s NW 17
by C. Max Magee
There’s a lot for readers to look forward to in the second-half of the year, and high up on the list is Zadie Smith’s first novel in seven years, NW.
June 6, 2012
Exclusive: The First Lines of Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue 7
by C. Max Magee
We’re already looking ahead to a number of exciting titles coming this fall, and near the top of that list is Michael Chabon’s new novel Telegraph Avenue.
April 27, 2012
Let’s Translate this Thing: Murathan Mungan’s Cities of Women 13
by Lydia Kiesling
Anglophones have a rare opportunity here for a bit of friendly cultural one-upmanship with the French: In a talk last summer, Mungan told the assembled that his French publishers rejected Cities of Women because they wanted to advertise him strictly as a novelist. The introduction of his stories and plays and poems to the market, they told him, would “confuse” the French people.
April 12, 2012
The Books We Come Back To 59
by Brian Ted Jones
It shows adulthood and devotedness, I think, to try and get back to a book you love, every four seasons or so. So which books do you all reread yearly, or biannually, or quadrennially, or decennially, and why?
April 6, 2012
Even David Foster Wallace Nods 14
by Brian Ted Jones
Where Wallace probably went wrong was in confusing the Greek nomos, meaning “law,” with onoma, meaning “name.”