Bookdwarf

I am feeling overwhelmed with options here. Do you ever dread the moment when you finish book? Usually, if a book is good enough, you just don’t want it to end. But these days finishing a book means I have to choose a new one to read. Do you ever feel really good about crossing [...]

Uncle Red takes on Sarah Vowell over at Identity Theory. “I never wanted to be a writer. When I was growing up I wasn’t one of those people who hid in their bedroom with a flashlight scribbling out stories. I came to writing by studying art history and writing essay exams. So I don’t know [...]

Lame post title. But read this interview with Rupert Thomson over at Three Monkeys (link stolen from Michael Schaub).

It’s always troubling when I get my hands on a long-awaited book and find it very disappointing. I love the food writing genre and couldn’t wait to read The Seasoning of a Chef: A Journey from Diner to Ducasse and Beyond by Doug Psaltis. But only half way through now, I am extremely disappointed. The [...]

I noticed this in yesterday’s Publisher’s Lunch deals: PAPERBACK RIGHTS Kelly Link’s MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS by Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, in a pre-emptive very nice deal, for publication in summer 2006, by Renée Zuckerbrot on behalf of Small Beer Press (NA). Yay Kelly Link! I’m a big fan of hers and of Small Beer Press, [...]

Ok, so there’s no Master Blaster, but James Woods has responded to Dan Green’s criticism of his take on the new Cormac McCarthy. It’s all very civil and polite. Damn.

I read this article in today’s NYT on Mifeprex, also know as RU-486. 2 women died after taking the pill, but doctors think that a bacterial infection, which has also been seen after childbirth and in other gynecological situations was the cause of death. Then I get to this part: Wendy Wright, senior policy director [...]

Robert Birnbaum (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person, along with Rosie, at the Kevin Smokler event) has a lovely interview with Ian McEwan over at The Morning News. Check it out.

Holy shit, Dan Wickett emailed us news that Bookdwarf favorite (and favorite among many I am sure) Carrie of Tingle Alley is mentioned in the Atlantic Monthly‘s fiction issue!

There I was all set to read the Book Review section and write a scathing report and I open up the pages of the paper to find it devoted to kids’ books this week. I wonder why? What could make them do that? They at least present us with a few non-kids related columns, which [...]

Radio Open Source will be hosting none other than Bookdwarf favorites TEV and Kevin Smokler (who’s appearance at my store I recorded and I swear I will post soon. The technology is a bit beyond me.) They will be confronting Steve Wasserman, former editor of the LA Times Book Review, which I assume will end [...]

I don’t think I even have to explain myself here.

*Yawn* Sorry, I almost fell asleep reading this past Sunday’s Globe Book Review. I am taking a page from Mark’s book. I found this week’s section too boring to even get annoyed. It’s just so lackluster in my opinion.

A survey for blog authors:

I got to 10 pages til the end at lunch yesterday, and I just couldn’t go on with my day until I had finished The Insult. I then spent the rest of the day thinking about this strange and wonderful book. Maud was right, this book was better than The Divided Kingdom, though I still [...]

I forgot to mention earlier that if you watch this vidlit promoting M.J. Rose’s upcoming The Halo Effect, $5 will be donated to Reading is Fundamental. This is a great way to get kids some books, so do it. It just takes a click.

Kevin Smokler is in town promoting Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times and will be appearing at my store in a few hours. I’ve brought my trusty digital mini-recorder, so once I get the file down to manageable size, I will post it. It should be a great event and I’m looking forward to meeting [...]

I asked Mr. Bookdwarf to write reviews for me of books he’s reading. This might be a new feature or a just a one time thing. Who knows? Recently he read Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen, which incidentally you can now download for free, and this is what he thought: Fantasy and science fiction ask [...]

There’s a new issue of Boldtype up today. This issue’s focus is spirituality and has guest editor—the Rza, from the Wu-Tang Clan. At the LBC website, the minority opinion, i.e. those who disliked the pick Case Histories, have written a post (though it isn’t clear who is the minority I have to say). There’s an [...]

I read this article in the NYT and thought “Aha! I am not the only one!” I feel vindicated somehow. I always felt guilty about my dislike of certain foods. I consider myself a foodie, but I hate eggplant. I loathe that purple grossness. I worked as a cook in a Greek restaurant in high [...]