December 2010
31 posts
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“i really like kerouac, but i’m not a reader.”
– An OKCupid profile that made me sort of guffaw-snort-OL. (via housingworksbookstore)
One of these days I will do a formal study of the WORD matchmaking board that will prove once and for all that the fastest way to make a book-lovin’ woman lose interest in you is to mention Kerouac. (Or...
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Would you like to read a book that will make you...
In that case, friends, I recommend Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi. I have nothing coherent to say about it, except that I have read some reviewers claim that they think Taibbi’s writing is a little too over-the-top and loose with the cursewords to be taken seriously, and would just like to observe that I think anybody who...
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Need advice about Russian novels
We are starting a classics book club at WORD (motto: “finally reading the books you pretended to read in high school”) and I think we’re going to make 2011 Year Of The Russians, with three months each devoted to four (undoubtedly lengthy) books. The book club members I’ve talked to seem psyched about such an undertaking, so I don’t think they’ll be scared...
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Public Service Announcement
Tonight at a lovely Christmas dinner we talked about, among many other important things, what one should do when one’s traveling partner gets on the subway car and one, for whatever reason, does not. (Perhaps your shoe needed tied. Perhaps you were fixing your dress as you came down the stairs. The G train is short and needs to be sprinted for. These things happen. Don’t judge.) Have...
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“The letter went on to explain that before the boxes of books sold to “remainder”...”
– “The Very Best Way To Go Out Of Print” by Laurel Snyder. This is fantastic. This is just fantastic. If you find it as fantastic as I do, I encourage you to buy her new middle-grade novel, Penny Dreadful, which is one of my favorite chapter books of the year, or, if it’s more your...
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Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
Here’s something you have to understand: this book literally comes wrapped in high expectations. The front cover of my advance copy has this quote from Anthony Bourdain: “Magnificent. Simply the best memoir by a chef ever. EVER. Gabrielle Hamilton packs more heart, soul, and pure power into one beautifully crafted page than I’ve accomplished in my entire writing career.”...
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“When I was a young writer, I would jump-start the next project as soon as I...”
– Working on the Ending - The Old Writer - Essay - NYTimes.com (via gwendabond)
“I can compose whole paragraphs in my head and find them waiting, intact, next morning.” And with that, flying was replaced as The Superpower I’d Kill For.
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“I intend that this autobiography shall become a model for all future...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 441. As my mom would say, it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.
I’ll stop here, though I could have entered three times as many quotes as I did. There is no point in reviewing Mark Twain, and I’m not sure anyone is qualified to do...
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“Certainly mental telegraphy is always at work—oftener than otherwise,...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 429. Twain seemed quite taken by this idea of mental telegraphy. He mentions it a lot. It’s fascinating.
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“Persons who think there is no such thing as luck—good or bad—are...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 380.
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“Jay Gould had just then reversed the commercial morals of the United States. He...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 364.
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“I am always obliged to say “I don’t, Ashcroft. I wish I could...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 342. Including this just so it is not a surprise to anyone when I start ending all my conversations with “Send for the cat.” On page 345, we learn that he had cats named Stray Kit, Abner, Motley, Fraulein, Lazy, Buffalo Bill, Soapy Sall,...
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“I don’t like Tillman. His second cousin killed an editor, three years ago,...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 292.
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“If any stray copy of this book shall, by any chance, escape the paper-mill for a...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 281. Mark Twain was New Media before you were New Media.
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“I was very young in those days, exceedingly young, marvelously young, younger...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 228.
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“Yet there are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable,...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 211.
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“It is discouraging to try to penetrate a mind like yours. You ought to get it...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 177. This is part of a remarkable section wherein Twain shows all the proposed changes that some feckless editor made to a piece he wrote on Joan of Arc, and then shows the five-page letter of mockery he wrote in reply. This alone is worth the price of...
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“His grammar is foolishly correct, offensively precise. It flaunts itself in the...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 120. I would like to note we are still not in the autobiography proper, here. I am quoting from the “preliminary manuscripts and dictations.”
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“Paige and I always meet on effusively affectionate terms; and yet he knows...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 106. MARK TWAIN REALLY SAID THAT YOU GUYS
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“I quite understand that I am confessing myself a fool; but that is no matter,...”
– The Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol 1), page 103. To celebrate having finally finished this book (including all the explanatory notes!), please enjoy a selection of quotes from it.
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vrai-lean-uh asked: Bookavore! I have a 10-year-old brother that LOVES books and am looking for some good book recommendations for him. Do you have any advice? He wants to read Hunger Games, which I worry is too old even though he's a pretty mature kid. He likes fantasty-type stuff and he likes things with real story and plot. I think the length and richness of some YA books would be great for him, but I...
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WORD To Your Mailbox →
Remember when I asked y’all about the word lagniappe? Well, here’s the program I was talking about. We ended up sticking with WORD To Your Mailbox because it’s what we call a similar program that we have for sending books to youngins.
In short: it’s a subscription service, and you get one trade paperback a month (a brand-spanking-new one, and to those who care,...
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Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots →
Ever since Ami introduced me to the wondrous ways of Brussels sprouts last year (and isn’t it annoying that you have to capitalize the B in Brussels? So weird. I mean, I know it’s a place, but I feel like it’s more a vegetable than a place, but anyway) I have been eating them several times a week. And I love them. But someone posted this recipe somewhere and I thought, I should...
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Is Mark Twain's autobiography subject to copyright... →
Link via Kassia on Twitter. This is a fascinating question, because:
“Under current US law, the copyright in an unpublished work lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. That term of protection for Twain’s Autobiography would have expired in 1980. For a currently published work the term of protection is the same, so it is logically impossible to apply that term starting from...
Runner Crawls to Finish to Win Title for Her... →
I was doing so good at not crying at the news today (I basically cry everyday when I read the news, and can you blame me) and then:
“Within two or three yards of the finish line, Reynolds collapsed, and a race official was at her side within seconds. He told her he could not touch her or help her, but to avoid disqualification, she would have to get over the finish line.
“’I said,...
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THE INSTRUCTIONS by Adam Levin
I can admit when I’m wrong about a book, and this is probably the most embarrassing example of the year. Our initial order on The Instructions was a boxful, and when it came in, I remember picking one of the copies up and being like, “Over 1000 pages for a DEBUT?! That is ballsy. That is ridonk. I hope people buy it,” and moving on with my life.
But then Adam Levin came to read...