Be Kind, Rewind (Time): Why I Hate Kindles

The world is losing its charm, and, in my opinion, Kindle is to blame.

Technology has already provided extensive, charmless alternatives to books. There was TV; then digital TV so you could have a thousand bad to mediocre alternatives to reading; and TiVo so you’d never have to miss an alternative to reading; and of course, the Internet and YouTube, which provides infinite hours of amusement with not one word of text.

Of course, there is also the ever-growing network of blogs and online publications that celebrate books (like this one) and make written opinions, news, reviews, even fiction and poetry available to the masses. But this still does not compare to sitting down and reading a novel, cover to cover.

Having used a Kindle, I will say that it is a nice gadget. The screen displays a picture of a different famous writer in matte black-and-white when the device is off, which reminds me of Harry Potter and is admittedly delightful. There are many advantages to reading off of a Kindle: it is less wasteful of energy and resources than printed books, it allows you to travel lightly with as many reading materials as you desire, and said reading materials are often cheaper than their paper alternatives.

But still, many of us who love reading cannot help but feel that holding a Kindle rather than a paperback leaves something to be desired. Books are not supposed to be skinny, sleek, and young, like supermodels. They are faces with character, in their cover art, the feel of their pages, their dog-ears and chocolate stains.

I don’t believe that libraries are going the way of the dinosaurs or that bookstores are an anachronism. No matter how cheap to produce and ubiquitous Kindle becomes—as it inevitably will—it will be a good while until books become the next alternative energy source. Even so, it scares me to think of a world where you can’t start conversations with strangers on the Metro with “that’s one of my favorites,” or sort through a pile of used books on the sidewalk to discover the fascinating notes that a stranger wrote in the margins of Lolita. Maybe I’m getting prematurely nostalgic, but I would prefer a world where charm is not always sacrificed to utility, and where everything created with love and pathos isn’t streamlined and gadgetized.

--Allison Geller is a regular contributor to UL and, despite her disaffection for certain technologies, is actually quite young and an undergraduate at the University of Virgina.

Photo: Kindle2report.com

Literary Links: Barnes & Noble Gets Wi-Fi + Editing Palin

Girl gone mild in Carlene Bauer’s Not That Kind of Girl: “If life maneuvers received scores for technical difficulty, Bauer would be competing for gold.” [via Daily Beast]

Flash fiction at your fingertips: give it a whirl at NameYourTale.com. [via GalleyCat]

For one month, from July 4 to August 4, access 2 million e-book titles at the World eBook Fair, courtesy of the World Public Library. [via Genre Reviews]

Editing Sarah Palin: Wayne Lawson, executive literary editor at Vanity Fair, took the red pen to Palin’s resignation speech. [via Inkwell Bookstore]

What’s in a prize? Should readers read what’s on the Booker Prize list, or choose for themselves? Do other prize lists offer better suggestions? [via Stuck in a Book]

Barnes & Noble to catch up with the times: the chain will soon be offering free in-store wi-fi access through AT&T. [via Publishers Weekly]

Book trailers are becoming more and more mainstream. Watch the trailer for So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother). [via Flux Now]

--Rachel Frier

Oh Snap!: Reading on the Runway

Done being beautified, a model did some preparation of another sort for her runway walk, at New York fashion week.

--Allison Geller

Photo: Jezebel

Lit Talk: Author Bich Minh Nguyen

It is somewhat astounding and certainly a blessing that we can count Bich Minh Nguyen (pronounced Bit Min New-win) among today’s authors when one considers her early life.

When she was 1-year-old, her Vietnamese family fled Saigon on April 29, 1975, the night before it fell. Nguyen now teaches literature and creative writing at Purdue University, published a memoir entitled Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, in which she tells the story of cultural identity through food, and will release a novel entitled Short Girls soon.

Below is an excerpt from an interview by Tommy Nguyen of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop with the very personable Bich Minh Nguyen, who talks about her memoir, heritage, and appetite.

***

Tommy Nguyen: There seems to be a very common coming-of-age setting for the very first wave of Vietnamese American children: '70s hand-me-down clothing, '80s pop and new wave music, Buddig luncheon meat and Pringles. Tell me about the socio-economic realities of that particular time and how they helped define this generation of Vietnamese Americans.

Bich Minh Nguyen: Can I ask you where you grew up?

Tommy Nguyen: I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, until I was five years old, and then my family moved to Orange County, California, in the early 1980s.

Bich Minh Nguyen: It's just really interesting hearing where other people resettled after the refugee camps. In my mind, all the lucky people got to go to California. But I think I know more people who resettled in small, more [Middle-American] towns. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the work that was available to immigrants or refugees was factory work. My dad did that for many years, and so did my uncles, even though they were trained to do other work in Vietnam. My dad, for example, was going to be an eye doctor. But in Grand Rapids, my dad worked in a feather factory, and that smell of feathers was on him whenever he came home. I knew, always, even as a little girl, that this was blue-collar work. I didn't know the word "blue-collar" back then, but I somehow knew it was blue-collar in the pejorative sense of the word. Most of my classmates' fathers did not work in factories. So very often I felt the class difference, which was compounded by the racial and ethnic differences. Children learn right away what the status symbols are. For example, I knew that generic cookies were very shameful, and I thought about these symbols a lot because I felt they prevented me from fitting in. My stepmother really wanted us to have free school lunches, but we were just above the qualifying level. That was her reality-- she saw it as "trying to get by." I didn't see it that way. I read so much as a girl, and I had these fantastical visions from--well, British literature, frankly. I felt that there was this other, better world out there. And I was stuck in this one.

Tommy Nguyen: Tell me more about your obsession with food, and how that influenced your understanding of class and culture as a young girl.

Bich Minh Nguyen: Let me start off by saying, Vietnamese food in Grand Rapids, up until very recently, was just strange. All the Vietnamese shops were in a particular part of town, totally segregated. We were the only ones in our neighborhood who were Vietnamese and cooked this "weird food." I had a very strong sense that it was not normal. Of course, I would never want to invite my friends over; they were always white girls. I was afraid they would think I was gross-- I think "gross" was a word that was used quite often back then. Secretly, I loved my grandmother's food. But I would never bring her food to school; that would be like wearing a "Kick Me" sign.

***

You can check out the full interview here. Nguyen will be reading at Women and Children First next week.

Wednesday, August 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Women & Children First

5233 N. Clark St.

Chicago, IL 60640773.769.9299

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo: Nguyen's site

Literary Links: Sucky Mags + Booker Prizes

Surely women’s magazines can come up with better reading material than the same article over and over and over again, right? Right? [via Jezebel]

Katharine Donelson works her way through Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (aka Remembrance of Things Past), 50 pages at a time. [via Blog Critic]

The Long List for the 2009 Man Booker Prize has been announced! [via Daily Beast]

Feeling artsy? Create your own debut YA book cover. [via 100 Scope Notes]

What gets your reading? Jane considers compelling incipit lines. [via Dear Author]

Help raise awareness of spec fic: if you’re a genre reviewer, join the Book Reviewer's Linkup Meme. [via Grasping for the Wind]

As if there wasn’t enough Harry Potter fiddle faddle, now you can play the Hogwarts House Cup Challenge game in your own home. [via Books and Other Thoughts]

Calling all would-be orators: now you, too, can devise the perfect Best Man wedding speech! Just use this handy flowchart. [via Holy Taco]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Jezebel

Bookmarks 7. 28.09

Literary Death Match in New York, N.Y. (July 30, 7:00 p.m.) – This event, held at the Bowery Poetry Club and Café, can’t be described better than it is on its own site: “Opium Magazine's Literary Death Match marries the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of 'American Idol''s judging, and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare.” This looks like one not to be missed, friends.

Printer’s Ball and Gaper’s Block Get-Together in Chicago, Ill. (July 31, 5:00 p.m.) – Chicago’s literary web magazine Gaper’s Block will co-host the Printer’s Ball at Columbia College’s Ludington Building. The event will be a mixer for the city’s publication scene, and include music and a poetry slam. Complimentary beer is available for those over 21.

The Flamenco Poets Society Presents Passages by Women in Houston, Tex. (August 1, 8:00 p.m.) – The Flamenco Poets Society seeks to complement the majesty of poetry with the heat and rhythm of flamenco music and dance. Passages by Women, held at The Artery, will feature three Latin-American female poets reading against the flamenco guitar of Randy Cordero.

Alabama Bound: Contemporary Fine Press and Artists’ Books in Mobile, Ala. (through Nov. 13) – This exhibition features many high-quality books of art from a variety of Alabama art groups, from watercolor to graphic design to quilting. It showcases individual artists’ work and the book itself as an art form.

Edgar Allan Poe: More Than a Poet in Baltimore, Md. (through December 6) – This exposition at the Enoch Pratt Free Library will showcase rare personal letters, notes, photographs, and other memorabilia belonging to Poe. You’d have to be stark Raven mad to miss this Tell-Tale exhibit. If you aren’t Ushered in, you’ll Rue the day forever.

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo: Wisc.edu

Around the Web: Madonna's Erotica + Pixar's Porn

Singer, dancer, actress, activist, and now, woman of (dirty) letters—Madonna’s erotic letters and phone messages are now up for online auction. [via LimeLife]

But when it comes to romance of the teen variety, Joe Jonas is the celebrity who takes the cake. His breakup with Camilla Belle inspired this angst-ridden act of pettiness, onstage, in front of thousands of concertgoers. [via Latina]

The talented people of Pixar are working on a new project, but this is one you won’t see in a theater full of eight-year-olds: The Ancient Book of Sex and Science. [via Nerve]

According to a new study, the world is becoming a more beautiful place—at least, its women are. [via The Frisky]

The year hasn’t been a good one for choreographers. Merce Cunningham, legendary modern dancer and choreographer, died at age 90. Appreciate his life and work with a picture slideshow. [via The Daily Beast]

Go back in the day with these vintage TV advertising treats, aimed to sell women on must-have beauty products like corn face powder. [via Jezebel]

--Allison Frier

Photo: The Daily Beast

Used Bookstores Are Our Secret Haven

The economy being what it is, now is perhaps the best time to check out the secret treasures held by used bookstores. The Guardian’s book blog has a recent article about some of these treasures, and their troublesome tendency to slip away if not immediately snatched up. [via Guardian UK]

My hometown of Washington, D.C., boasts some brilliant used bookstores. Among my favorites are Second Story Books and Idle Time Books. But although Second Story’s collection can’t be beat, I must confess that my favorite local used book store is Capitol Hill Books—a book store with a sense of humor.

From their website:

To get a real taste of everything we have to offer, we recommend that you come in for a visit. We have fiction books in the fiction room (hard cover & paperbacks), mystery books in the Mystery Room, foreign language books in the bathroom, cookbooks in the kitchen on the kitchen sink, business books with the lawyers in the Business Closet, cultural biographies in the Cultural Closet, and a Weird Section for those who like witches, dreams, and things that go bump in the night.

Stop by for a visit, but be sure to watch you head! Books are piled all the way to the ceiling, and an avalanche may occur at any time.

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Capitol Hill Books

Hedes & Dekes: Early 20th Century Spy Records Up For Viewing

British spy and art historian Anthony Blunt wrote a 30,000-word memoir during his time as a spy for the Soviet Union between sometime in the 1930s to the early 1950s. Last week, after keeping the memoir sealed in a steel container for twenty-five years, the British Library has made the document public, reports The New York Times.

The memoir does not really reveal much new information about Blunt’s work or espionage, but it does offer some perspective on his opinions of what he was doing. Most notably, it is nearly completely unapologetic for any harm his spying may have caused.

Following Blunt’s death in 1983, the executor of Blunt’s will deposited the memoir with the library on the condition that the document, which Blunt had intended as a testament to family and friends, be kept secret for twenty-five years. Those twenty-five years are up, and the document is finally available to the public.

It’ll be interesting to see who is first to snatch up publishing rights.
--Rachel Frier

Photo: The New York Times

Oh Snap!: Kindling the Spark

Could the days of sitting on the beach with a heap of paperbacks and magazines be coming to a close? At least this way no one knows if you're reading Nora Roberts or Nobokov.

--Allison Geller

Lit Talk: Author Gay Talese

Italian-American author Gay Talese has lived for the majority of the twentieth century and made an illustrious career for himself. With Truman Capote, Joan Didion, and others, he helped to define the genre of New Journalism in the 1960s, and since then has been covering topics from Frank Sinatra to boxing to mob violence to swinger culture. At the beginning of this interview with Robert Birnbaum, the full version of which is available here, Talese discusses inspiration and what makes a writer.

***

Robert Birnbaum: I know you are an avid Yankee fan. Is there a story that you think sportswriters are missing about the Yankees and the Red Sox?

Gay Talese: I could come up with 50 stories that I am thinking about.

Robert Birnbaum: Seriously?

Gay Talese: I have, without being immodest to you or anyone, a way of looking at a subject—it could be the Yankees, it could be a tree in Boston—where I would say to myself, There is another way of looking at this tree, or this ballgame or these players. Yes, indeed. Do you want a whole series of story ideas? No.

Robert Birnbaum: In A Writer’s Life, you are sitting at a restaurant and you see a man eating a fish—then the paragraph continues on for another page or so—it reminded me of when we were in high school biology and you are shown a drop of water under a microscope—

Gay Talese: Yeah, it’s the imagination of the nonfiction writer. It is nonfiction we are dealing with, as you know—it’s what can be—the way of seeing is very private but can be very creative, and you can take any assignment, any subject, and write about it if you can see it in a vividly descriptive or instructive way. And as you mentioned, I am a restaurant-goer. I go to restaurants a lot. I work alone all day. At night I like to have something to do where I am around people and a restaurant is the best excuse of being around people. I don’t care about the food that much. I care about the atmosphere. Restaurants are a wonderful escape for me. And are for a lot of people. People go to restaurants for so many different reasons. To court a girl, to make some deal. Maybe to talk to some lawyer about how to get an alimony settlement better than they got last week. What I have done since I was 50 years younger than I am now—which is to say 24; now I am 74—I think what I do is write nonfiction as if it were fiction. On the other hand, it is clearly, verifiably factual—but it is a story. It is storytelling. It isn’t telling you a story of somebody you already know. It is, more often than not, somebody you do not know. Or if it is somebody that you do know that I am writing about, it will be something that you don’t know about that person. It is a way of seeing, a way of going about the process of research. It might be interviewing, or it might be hanging around. For example, many colleges in their writing programs teach some of my work. What they often do is teach something like “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” something I wrote when I was 25 years younger or more. That isn’t about Frank Sinatra at all. I didn’t even talk to Frank Sinatra—

Robert Birnbaum: [laughs]

Gay Talese: What I did was I hung around people who hung around Sinatra. You mentioned in reference to the book I have out now, “You go to a restaurant and you see a guy having a certain fish for dinner.” And he is eating the fish, and across the room I am watching him from another table eating the fish. And I am thinking, Now let’s take this fish and do it in reverse. Instead of the fish in his mouth, let’s take it out of his mouth and move the whole process of that fish back to the time when it was in the kitchen being prepared by the chef. And before it was in the kitchen with the chef being cooked to a certain specification by the diner, it was in a box of ice and before it was in a box of ice, it was being transported by plane to a New York airport, thence to the Fulton Fish Market. But before that the darned fish was in the water somewhere being caught by some disgruntled fisherman who was in water that he shouldn’t have been in—

Robert Birnbaum: [chuckles]

Gay Talese: And he is having trouble with his wife and he is on his miserable ship off Newfoundland somewhere and this awful guy, this awful guy, is a fisherman now, and he is grousing to himself when he catches all these damned fish and a whole process is going back into the personalities of the people who catch fish, the people who are trolling—watching fisherman in places they shouldn’t be because they are in lawless waters. All these things that can rise to the mind of a creative person just by virtue of being across the table from a person devouring a piece of tuna. It’s all traceable in a factual sense if you move backward. But it also is something that many, many people sitting in a restaurant, idling their time over their own dinner wouldn’t have the curiosity—it’s all about curiosity.

***

Readers will have the opportunity to see Gay Talese promote two re-released works, Thy Neighbor’s Wife and Honor Thy Father, in New York City on Tuesday:

Tuesday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m.
150 East 86th St.
New York, N.Y. 10028
212.369.2180

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo by Fred R. Conrad/New York Times

Literary Links: 'Virgin Suicides' Sweet 16 + Tricky Cover Art

A discussion on race and cover art, and publisher’s decisions based on apparent market preference. [via Justine Larbalestier]

Michael Chabon: skeptical. [via Bookslut]

Meet Joshua Henkin, the author who joined 175 book clubs. [via Three Guys One Book]

Toronto’s Fringe Festival is a celebration of drama. [via The Millions]

Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides celebrates its Sweet 16, and is still just as controversial as ever. [via The Daily Beast]

Legal decisions that have nothing to do with books apparently have a lot to do with books. [via Pimp My Novel]

Who knew? Teens read, too. Check out these awesome reviews of today’s most exciting teen lit! [via Teens Read Too]

Retirement plans for writers. [via Editor Unleashed]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Ain't That a Shame

Oh Snap!: Paris Review

Paris Hilton posing with--er, reading--Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Doubt she'll be taking to the battlefield in those clothes.

-Allison Geller

Photo: PhilosophyBlog.com

Literary Links: Dan Brown + 'Twilight'

Whether you’re a fan or not, there’s no denying the popularity of film adaptations of beloved books. Here’s a list of several. [via Booktender]

A list of must-reads to prepare yourself for Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, coming out later this year. [via Libraryland Roundup]

Apparently publishers are afraid of Dan Brown’s popularity: They are rushing books into print early to avoid competition. [via Telegraph]

Publishers, affected by the economic downturn, may be denying the advances they are supposed to offer their authors. [via Dear Author]

The summer fiction issue of The Atlantic is now available, with some exciting reads by renowned authors. [via Nonsuch Book]

Some library patrons really know what they want. [via Love the Liberry]

International Thriller Writers announces their 2009 Thriller Award winners! [via Bookbitch]

Looking for free books? Try one of the many book giveaways at the blogs listed here. [via Ms. Bookish]

The much-beloved Twilight series is now being made into graphic novels. Check out the Asian flair artwork! [via Maw Books]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Impawards.com

Around the Web: Kate Von D, Alice in Wonderland + Santigold

Kate Von D--sans tattoos! [via Latina]

To some French feminists’ chagrin, the French tradition of topless sunbathing is no longer considered part of a more relaxed, less prudish culture. If you’re planning a getaway to the Cote d’Azur, keep the bikini top on—if you don’t, you might even get a fine. [via Jezebel]

While we’re on the subject of “the girls”, one especially well-endowed woman conducts an unscientific, yet socially important experiment to answer the question: does amount of cleavage displayed correlate with ability to get your way? [via Nerve]

Check out the latest from Tim Burton with this preview of Alice and Wonderland, predictably weird and wondrous. [via The Frisky]

For lovers of the TV’s stylish and scandal-filled "Mad Men" comes a second season DVD commentary with the lowdown on the making of the show and the evolution of its most interesting characters, Peggy and Don Draper. [via Salon]

Get a free playlist of hip summer songs, including Santigold’s addictive dance tune “LES Artistes”. [via Nylon]

For lovers of travel and fashion come adorable passport t-shirts, at the recession-friendly price of $30. [via Fashion Bomb Daily]

For those with strong stomachs and stronger senses of irony comes Deadgirl, a deliberately shocking and over the top indie movie about, well, what it sounds like. [via Salon]

--Allison Geller

Photo: Latina

Meet Me At the Bowery

If you ever have the good fortune to travel to New York City (and who doesn’t, at least once in this lifetime?), you must stop by Bowery Poetry Club.

What is Bowery Poetry Club? From their website:

…it’s time to acknowledge the Horrific Triumph of Capitalism and see if poetry, placed in an amenable circumstance, full of pleasure, music, danger, intellectual irascibility, hiphop, highbrow culture, multiculti activism, communal chutzpah, Po Mo Beatology, and the Best Coffee on the Block, can make a go of it on The Bowery.

In other words, it’s a mishmash of all things literary and poetic. The club sponsors workshops and readings in the afternoons and poetry events every night. Featuring several events each day, and a number of other attractions besides (including food and libations), it’s a gathering spot for folks of all ages who have an interest in wordplay.

The club opens at 10 am on weekdays and 11 am on weekends, and visitors can spend a whole day “chowing down on homemade chapbooks & spoken word CDs at the Bookstore- Poetry Served Here.” Or, stop by the café, a coffee-house, late night hangout, and wi-fi hot spot that claims to “specialize in food that makes drinking fun!” Their daily specials include lasagna, soups, and sonnet salads. Just beware the Edna St. Vincent Millay if you’re wearing much hairspray.

And if you’re around this Wednesday (7/23), you’ll have the rare treat of attending Jason Norman’s ASL Poetry Slam. Don’t miss it!






--Rachel Frier

Photo Bowery Poetry Club: Bowery Poetry Club; Jason Norman: The New York Times

Hedes & Dekes: Literary Legacy of Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes, has passed away at the age of 78. In a New York hospice on Sunday, July 19, McCourt died of meningitis. He is survived by his third wife Ellen Frey, daughter Margaret McCourt, and brothers Malachy, Michael, and Alphie McCourt.

The schoolteacher-turned-memoirist was born in New York, but had spent most of his childhood in his parents’ native Limerick, Ireland. It is there that Angela’s Ashes, the story of his childhood, takes place.

McCourt had become a devoted reader at the age of ten, when he was hospitalized for three months with typhoid. In the comfort of the well-heated hospital with its well-stocked library—a far cry from the impoverished conditions he was used to at home—the young McCourt read his first lines of Shakespeare, and was hooked.

As an adult, McCourt turned his passion for reading into a profession, and spent thirty years as a teacher of English. Though he dabbled in writing, he didn’t have much success until later in life, when Angela’s Ashes was published when he was 66. All he had wanted was to have a library of Congress catalogue number, but the book became a runaway bestseller and then won the Pulitzer, bringing McCourt fame he had never dreamed of. He went on to publish two more volumes of memoir, but neither received the acclaim of Angela’s Ashes. [Via Time]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Time

Literary Links: Literature Ink + Nerdy Beers

John Christie offers the most comprehensive list of book-related beer names ever compiled. [via Brews & Books]

Mark Sarvas completes his interview series with Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland. [via Mark Sarvas]

When forming the indie band Harry and the Potters, Joe and Paul DeGeorge were probably not aware that they were creating what a Time magazine article calls a new genre of music. [via John Green]

“Your body is not MySpace!” Molly Lambert argues against literary tattoos. [via This Recording]

Get your PoMo on with this annotated list of 61 essential postmodern reads. [via Jacket Copy]

“Middle-aged women want to read books about sex more than anything else, new research has found.” They also read cookbooks. [via Marie Claire]

In an average year, an average American spends an average of $118 on reading materials… and $457 on alcoholic drinks. [via Visual Economics]

No more Madam Librarian: in front of a sell-out audience, these librarians go wild in competition for the Golden Bookcart. [via NPR]

Glen Binger interviews Brand Scott Gorrell regarding his collection of poetry, During My Nervous Breakdown I Want To Have A Biographer Present. [via Broad Set Writing Collective]

Following a copyright infringement case, Amazon has had to pull copies of Orwell’s 1984 from readers’ Kindle devices. Big Brother is watching. [via Fashion Piranha]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: This Recording

Oh Snap!: Paper Gangster

Johnny Depp perusing the pages of a good read, sans gun and fedora.

--Allison Geller

Photo: Starfish via Photobucket

Oh Snap!: Domestic Pleasures

This kitty knows what a nice day is for: laying in the grass, bathing in the sun, and enjoying a good book.

--Allison Geller

Photo: ehow

Voices: Have Women Overcome 'Fear of Flying'?

It’s been 36 years since Erica Jong’s groundbreaking Fear of Flying flew off the shelves and into the limelight as a book that would change not just literature, but the lives of women.

Reading it now, it’s easy to appreciate it as a great read, but harder to see it in its original, revolutionary context. After all, what is so groundbreaking about a woman wanting (and having) sex? Or wanting (and gaining) success? We have a decade of "Sex and the City" under our belts and the lyrics of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” ringing in our ears.

Could it be that in this era of the Jezebel woman, who is smart and a bit cynical and doesn’t feel a wit of guilt about jumping from bed to bed, or about not jumping from bed to bed, that we’ve outgrown Isadora Wing, FOF’s heroin? Or do Isadora’s fantasies and struggles and “Zipless Fucks” have as much relevance today as in 1973?

The plot of the novel is little more than a series of episodes in Isadora’s life. It begins with her flying over the Atlantic to a psychiatrists’ conference in Geneva with her shrink husband, stricken by the fear of flying. Upon arriving, she meets what she thinks will be her Zipless Fuck—the ultimate fantasy, the “platonic ideal” of a sexual affair, in which “zippers fell away like rose petals, underwear blew off in one breath like dandelion fluff.”

After a period of wrenching indecision, Isadora decides to take off with the ZF, a crass and narcissistic Brit named Adrian Lovegood, on an aimless road trip around Europe. She has no idea whether she will return to her strong, silent, and stone-cold husband Bennett.

The irony is that Adrian is terrible in bed. In fact, he is impotent most of the time. Clearly Isadora is not sure what she is really seeking, and if she is looking in the right places to find it.

It’s the kind of novel that any woman can read and proclaim “story of my life!” out loud at any number of points. Maybe we haven’t all married a psychopath—as Isadora does, fresh out of college, before getting hitched to Bennett as a kind of antidote—but haven’t we all sometimes wondered if we really want to marry and have children, and then felt guilty for wondering? Or hungered for success, and then cowered in its face? Or felt uncomfortable and painfully aware of being a woman alone?

The real achievement of the book is that it is the candid voice of a woman in all her complexity, honored in a way that it had not been previously. It is not a novel written by a woman about women’s things; the narrative middleman has been cut out. It’s nothing but the screaming, musing, crying voice of a woman—and a smart one— for 400-plus pages.

These are not just moments in the life of a fictional character or an author, but in the lives of all women, before 1973 and up to today. In writing such a text, Jong asserted that these moments deserve attention.

But the buck stops there. Fear of Flying may have started the trend of recognizing and validating the desires and struggles of women—we want sex! But also marriage! But also success! But maybe not!—but women still desire, still struggle. Not simply because they are of a certain gender, but also because they are individuals.

I read this text differently today than I would have as a young woman in 1973. I am not shocked by the easy, flippant use of the words “fuck”, “prick”, and “cunt”. I do not hear the repressed voice of womanhood, but rather that of a person and a writer, coming to her own and figuring out who she is and wishes to be. That is a struggle that will never be resolved in a feminist blog, in a pop song, or on a TV show. In this way, Fear of Flying will never be irrelevant.

--Allison Geller

Hedes & Deks: Journalism 101: Know Your Facts

One might think that—following the James Frey vs. Oprah blowout and the Opal Mehta train wreck of 2006, along with countless other examples since—writers would have gotten the message that how you write your book is just as important as, if not more important than, what you write.

Evidently, Ben Mezrich missed the memo.

Rumors suggest he’s cranky that people are questioning his reporting tactics in his recently published non-fiction account of the founding of Facebook.

A recent Reuters article reports:

BusinessWeek called the book, published by Doubleday, a “tawdry mishmash” and said Mezrich wrote “a fictionalized account of the founding of Facebook.” Mezrich dismisses that as elitist claptrap. “It’s a nonfiction book. It’s a true story,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I am a narrative nonfiction writer in a way that other people don’t write. I’m trying to create my own genre of nonfiction.”

So, readers are supposed to just read and enjoy his book, and not concern themselves with pesky little details like facts? I guess that makes sense. After all, as Homer Simpson so blithely put it, “Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!”

--Rachel Frier

Photo by Guido Vitti/Boston Magazine

Harry Potter Mania

Let the games begin! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has opened in theaters around the world, and Potter-mania has swelled once more.

I’ll admit it: I’m no fan of Harry Potter. I read through the fifth book before I completely lost my patience with the series. But there’s no denying that Rowling’s imaginative story world has captured the hearts and minds of readers young and old in unprecedented ways.

Here’s a look at the HP happiness sweeping the nation this week:

· Kids and adults alike enjoy the imaginative escapism of the stories. [Via Inside Access]
· Release parties have been sweeping Los Angeles. [Via The Leaky Cauldron]
· Variety reports that the most recent HP film has scored the highest midnight-showing gross of any film, bringing in $22.2 million. [Via Variety]
· Some people have been putting their imagination to work creating cakes to celebrate the occasion. [Via Cake Wrecks]
· Even the Vatican has given HP its seal of approval for Harry’s fight against evil! [Via Scotsman News]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Cake Wrecks

Literary Links: Fired from the Canon + Twitter Novels

Since one lifetime’s all you’ve got, and you probably don’t want to spend all of it reading the books on today’s Must-Read lists, here’s a new list for you: books that should be fired from the canon. [via The Second Pass]

Playwright, author, and doctor Anton Chekhov lived a fascinating, if brief, life. Check out this photo-journey of his home and its breathtaking surroundings. [via ros360]

The Boston Globe provides a list of audio-books that are perfectly suited for a little light summer listening. [via Largehearted Boy]

Rubbing elbows with literary stars: MsSpentyouth tells the story of the time Al Franken turned her in for child neglect. [via Daily Kos]

What is it that makes some authors perfect fodder for Internet cults? [via Bookslut]

In celebration of its 60th anniversary, the National Book Foundation is celebrating the 77 novels that have won its fiction award. Check out the funny math: 77 awards in 60 years? [via Jacket Copy]

The first full-length novel has been published via Twitter, just in time for Bastille Day. [via The French Rev]

All the phun happens in Phoenix: “David Irving's Book Tour Hits Phoenix Diner, Anarchists Protest Gathering of Neo-Nazis.” [via Feathered Bastard]

Calling all language nerds: Learning Spanish? Check out today’s news, delivered in slowly spoken Spanish podcasts. [via News in Slow Spanish]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: The Second Pass

Oh Snap!: No Cameras, Please

A multitasking Katherine Heigl catches up on some reading, wards off cameras, and gets a mani and pedi. Who knew a book could be such a good disguise?

--Allison Geller

Photo: Jezebel

Lit Talk: Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks is a true woman of the world. She was born and raised in Australia, but completed her Master’s in journalism at Columbia University and married her husband Tony Horwitz in France, during which period she converted to Judaism. As a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, she covered crises in the Middle East.

Her international experiences are tangible in the diversity of her books: The Nine Parts of Desire deals with her work among Muslim women in the Middle East; Year of Wonders centers on a plague outbreak in 17th-century Puritan England; Pulitzer Prize-winning March tells the story of the absent father of Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters; People of the Book chronicles the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest versions in Europe of the traditional Passover service text. Below is an excerpt from an interview on her website about People of the Book:

***

Interviewer: Your previous two novels are set during Europe’s plague years and the American Civil War. Now, you’ve created an epic story about art and religious persecution. What is it that draws you to a particular subject? Or a particular historical era?

Geraldine: I love to find stories from the past where we can know something, but not everything; where there is enough of a historical record to have left us with an intriguing factual scaffolding, but where there are also enough unknowable voids in that record to allow room for imagination to work.

Interviewer: What do you think it is about the real Sarajevo Haggadah that has allowed it to survive the centuries?

Geraldine: It’s a fascinating question: why did this little book always find its protectors, when so many others did not? It is interesting to me that the book was created in a period—convivencia Spain—when diversity was tolerated, even somewhat celebrated, and that it found its way centuries later to a similar place, Sarajevo. So even when hateful forces arose in those societies and crushed the spirit of multi-ethnic, interfaith acceptance, there were those individuals who saw what was happening and acted to stop it in any way they could.

Interviewer: Were you already working on People of the Book when March won the Pulitzer Prize? How does winning such a prestigious award affect your writing?

Geraldine: I was working on People of the Book even before I started to write March. I’d been struggling quite a bit with the World War II story: it’s such a picked-over period and I was looking for a backwater of the war that wouldn’t perhaps feel so familiar to readers. That search was leading to a lot of dead ends when I suddenly got the idea for March and it was so clear to me how to write that book that I just did it.

The Pulitzer Surprise, as my then-nine-year-old son so accurately dubbed it, affected my writing only in that it interrupted it for a while by drawing renewed attention to March. But after a few weeks of pleasant distraction I was back at my desk, alone in a room, simply doing what I’ve always done, which is trying to write as best I can, day after day.
***

The full interview is available here, and Geraldine Brooks will be at the following sites this summer:

Sunday, August 2 (Time TBA)
Martha's Vineyard Book Festival
520 South RoadChilmark, Mass. 02535

202.645.9484

Thursday, August 13 at 7:00 p.m.
Martha’s Vineyard Museum
59 School St.Edgartown, Mass. 02539

508.627.4441

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo by Randi Baird/Viking Penguin Publicity

Hedes & Dekes: Piece of Literary Landscape For Sale

The location rumored to have been the inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse is about to go up for sale. As a child, Woolf spent many summers in a guest house at Upton Towans beach in Gwithian, from which the lighthouse on nearby Godrevy Island is clearly visible.

The novel, long considered an exemplum of modernist fiction, is set in Hebrides rather than Cornwall, but features many of the same geographical landmarks as the Upton Towans beach, including the seashore, gardens leading to the sea, and of course the lighthouse.

Bids for the beach are expected to begin at about £50,000, and proceeds from the sale will go to Truro’s Hall for Cornwall theatre. It has been reported that buyers in both the U.S. and China are interested in the Cornish beach. [Via BBC News]

The nearby lighthouse had been slated for closure, but was saved by public outcry in 2005. [Via BBC News]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: BBC News

Around the Web: MJ Tees + NAACPs

Sex, gossip, and scandal are ingredients in another book, but this time, it’s fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. By Lauren Conrad. [via LimeLife]

For all those potty mouths out there—a new study reveals that cursing may actually be beneficial. F*** yes! [via Jezebel]

Designer Kobe Saki does his part to pay tribute to the King of Pop with these sweet tee shirts, less than $30 a pop. [via Fashion Bomb Daily]

Considering that “Brüno” is the highest grossing movie of the weekend, it’s got something going for it beyond Sacha Baron Cohen’s utter shamelessness. According to this reviewer, it’s an underappreciated piece of Swiftian satire. [via The Daily Beast]

It wasn’t all squeaky clean in the house with no toilets: a new autobiography by The Brady Bunch’s Maureen McCormick (“Marsha”), Here’s the Story, will soon be hitting the shelves. Whet your appetite with this list of scandalous Brady fact and fiction. [via The Frisky]

The NAACP turns 100! To honor one hundred years of breakthroughs in civil rights, Essence compiles a photo gallery with images that range from founder W.E.B. Du Bois to the city bus where Rosa Parks made her famous stand to the organization’s most recent president, Benjamin T. Jealous. [via Essence]

-- Allison Geller

Photo: Limelife

Bookmarks 7.14.09

Bodies in the Library: Who Done It at Litquake? in San Francisco, Calif. (July 16 at 6:00 p.m.) – This fundraiser for the Litquake Festival will be held at the Mechanics Institute Library and will feature several Bay area mystery writers in an intimate, mingle-worthy setting. Additionally, there will be a raffle whose prizes include signed copies of newly released mystery novels and the chance to become a character in a new mystery.

Decatur Book Festival Fete in Decatur, Ga. (July 16, 7:00 p.m.) – This party, held at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, is an enormous gathering of book clubs in the Atlanta metro area. There will be wine, good, and local authors mingling and discussing the book club institution and how to make yours better.

Drunken! Careening! Writers! in New York, N.Y. (July 16, 7:00 p.m.) – Really, the event title alone should be enough to draw you to this event, but if anyone needs further description, Drunken! Careening! Writers! will be an evening of drinking, readings, and performances with “actors-slash-memoirists-slash-screenwriters” at the KGB Bar on 85 E. 4^th Street.

DePaul’s First Annual Summer Writing Conference in Chicago, Ill. (July 17-19) – This conference is open to writers of all ages and experience levels. It will be a weekend of craft classes, readings, panel discussions (such as “Publishing in Literary Magazines” and “Ethics in Memoir”), open mic sessions, and a keynote address by Achy Obejas in “Writing and Responsibility.”

Prayers in Code: Books of Hours from 16^th-Century France in Baltimore, Md. (through July 19) – Books of Hours, devotional and ornamented books from the Middle Ages, were both instruments of prayer and status symbols. This exhibit, free and open to the public at the Walters Art Museum, displays some of the later, transitional, unusual examples of the genre and examines the relationship between the images and the prayer text.

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo: Flickr

Lifestyle Gumbo: MJ's Expansive Book Collection + MJ Books Sells Quickly

Say what you will about Michael Jackson—the man was well read. Apparently he was not only an avid reader, but had amassed a collection of 10,000 volumes in his library at Neverland Ranch. [Via Seattle PI]

Perhaps it’s only appropriate, then, that a book commemorating the King of Pop’s more recent life and career is published more quickly than any other. Simon & Schuster Publishers has released today a 500,000-copy run of Ian Halperin’s Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson. The unauthorized biography was due to be released in honor of the 50th-anniversary comeback tour, but its publication date was rushed forward. [Via Canada.com]

Montreal publisher Pierre Turgeon says that in his many years in the book business he's never seen anything like the turnaround time of this biography. The publishers attribute the quick turnaround to their strong production team, efficient use of technology, and cooperation from suppliers. [Via Publisher's Weekly]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Fan Pop

Literary Links: Obama Books + Annoying (Bookstore) Customers

Apparently reading our president’s books is a threat to national security. [via Read Street]

Attention all geeks-in-training: Click here to learn how to geek out about P. G. Wodehouse. [via A.V. Club]

“Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity,/ When I give I give my pants.” ~ Walt Whitman [via Vowel Movers]

15 lengthy novels worth reading. “It is possible to find longer novels but we thought it would be unkind to recommend L. Ron Hubbard books or horrendously lengthy self-published beasts.” [via AbeBooks]

July 4th weekend proved rife with annoying customers: “Top 10 Annoying Customer Questions from the 4th of July Weekend.” [via Inkwell Bookstore]

Everyman’s access, via the Internet, to the rare book market has caused severe deflation—a “curse for sellers.” [via Seattle P.I.]

Despite the fact that readers are already paying for texts accessed through the Kindle, Amazon has applied for patents to technology that will embed ads. [via Fast Company]

The PC-police are soooo going to get this kid: American History as explained by an 8-year-old. [via College Humor]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Babble.com

Oh Snap!: Sensory Perceptions

Getting the most out of your reading requires great feeling-- in some cases, literally.

--Allison Geller

Photo: Getty Images

Lit Talk: Author Carla Laemmle

Those who have grown up on digitally-enhanced movie monsters and other special effects of the Computer Age might chuckle at the mechanically or cosmetically created monsters of Old Hollywood. And yet in their heyday, these monsters made audiences gasp and screech, and theirs is a legacy to remember.

Carla Laemmle, who turns 100 in October, was there from the beginning, as her uncle, Carl Laemmle, was the founder of Universal Studios. Carla witnessed 1923’s "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" being filmed in the same studio lot that she played in as a child, landed the role of Prima Ballerina in 1925’s "The Phantom of the Opera," and spoke the first line of dialogue in a horror talkie, 1931’s "Dracula." Now an icon and a poet, she has published (with Daniel Kinske and a foreword by Ray Bradbury) Growing Up with Monsters, which tells the story of her own youth and the youth of the horror film in charming verse.

Clixk here to watch a brief interview with the amazingly well-preserved Carla at Monsterpalooza 2009. Carla will be reading from and discussing her book at Book Soup shortly:

Sunday, July 19 at 4:00 p.m.
Book Soup

8818 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, Calif. 90069310.659.3110

--Emmaline Silverman

Photo by Carl Gunther

Literary Links: Crazypants Authors + Wince-Worthy Words

And the drama continues: An Open Letter to [reviewer] Roberta Silman re: The Day Alice Hoffman Went Crazypants. [via Hipster Book Club]

Rob Walker’s latest project puts a literary spin on eBay selling. [via Core 77]

A challenge to submit contenders for the title of “The Most Awesomely Bad SFF Cover in the World.” [via Orbit Books]

Are you a re-reader, or do you take books for only a single stroll around the block? [via Newsweek]

Questioning the possible methodology of Borders’ new UK dating site: “Did you enjoy, Mark, 34, of Swindon? Then you should try Gareth, 36, of Slough.” [via Bookslut]

Play around with Wordle: make a web cloud of any piece of text. Here’s one for Catherynne M. Valente’s latest work. [via Wordle]

A group of poets has come up with a list of their most wince-worthy words: “Pulchritude” because it is “stuffed to the brim with a brutally latinate cudgel of barbaric consonants.” [via Guardian]

Looking for a new and interesting way to share the reading experience online? An innovative collaborative reading experience. [via Book Glutton]

--Rachel Frier

Photo: Newsweek