Bill Cheng's Blog, page 130
February 12, 2013
housingworksbookstore:
livefromthenypl:
Colbert: Why do you...
Colbert: Why do you write short stories? America likes big. Go big or go home. We like big, huge, huge, huge novels.
Saunders: I’ll tell you why. If you imagine this, let’s say you were madly in love with somebody and your mission was to tell the person that you love them. So here’s two scenarios: one is you can take a weeklong train trip with the person, take your time, you’ll be in boring situations, beautiful scenery, everything. That’s a novel.
Colbert: Sounds good, sounds really good.
Saunders: The second scenario is she’s stepping on the train and you’ve got three minutes. So you have to make all that declaration in three minutes. That would be a short story.
Colbert: Can I get on the train with her?
Saunders: No, you’ve just got to shout it as she goes.
Colbert: Why can’t I get on the train?
Saunders: Because it’s a short story. You’re not allowed. You have to end it in eight pages and get out.
Colbert: But this is the short story I want to read — where is she going? Why can’t I go with her? We’re on to something here. Does she love me back? I’ve got to know!
Saunders: I don’t know yet! Sometimes a short story will just end with that question — does she love me back? So it’s a very special kind of beauty.
Saunders will be at the library with another legendary talk show host, Dick Cavett, next Tuesday, Feb. 26 to talk about his much-lauded latest story collection, “Tenth of December.”
LONG LIVE THE SHORT STORY.
libraryjournal:
Q. You’ve said previously that Reading...
Q. You’ve said previously that Reading Rainbow was the hardest, most rewarding thing you’ve done in show business. Is that still true for you?
A. I had to learn a new business. I had to learn the technology business. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. When you think about reinventing a well-known and beloved brand, the thing that kept us up nights was the fear of failing to meet expectations. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done…and the most rewarding. I love that I am able to focus at this point in my life on the mission, the continuing mission, of getting kids excited about literature and reading.
Flying Twice as High: Reading Rainbow 2.0 | SLJ Talks to LeVar Burton - The Digital Shift
Reading Rainbow is back as an app…?!
Saw Kirsten Greenidge’s FANTASTIC play Luck of the Irish...
Saw Kirsten Greenidge’s FANTASTIC play Luck of the Irish last night at Lincoln Center. Tickets are selling out quick so hop to.
February 11, 2013
The Manuscript of Beowulf (1000 AD) Can Now Be Viewed Online for the First Time
:
Made around the year 1000, most likely during the reign of King Æthelred the Unready (978-1016), this manuscript committed to parchment a tale that (in some modern scholars’ opinions) had been passed down for centuries, between generations of storytellers.
In its present state, the poem, named after its hero Beowulf, contains more than 3,000 lines, and divides conventionally into three comparatively equal sections: Beowulf’s struggle with the monster, Grendel; the revenge of Grendel’s mother; and Beowulf’s final contest with a dragon, which was guarding a hoard of treasure. What marks out Beowulf is the gripping and highly developed story, and the richness of its language.
joehillsthrills:
workmanpublishing:
The Power of Books.
I...
The Power of Books.
I actually had image number 3 happen to me once, but if you’re going to bury yourself in maritime fiction, that’s one of the risks.
February 9, 2013
harpercollins:
“When snow accumulates week after week, month...
“When snow accumulates week after week, month after month, it works curious miracles.”
—E. B. White, from”The Winter of the Great Snows,” Essays of E. B. White
February 8, 2013
yaleuniversity:
Charles Dickens’ meerschaum pipe and quill pen,...
Charles Dickens’ meerschaum pipe and quill pen, housed at the Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Dickens was born today, 201 years ago!
Search the Beinecke Library’s online archive of objects that provide perspectives on his life and art.
February 7, 2013
Oh hey, I guess that's me
A piece in the Townies section of the Times today:
I have a hard time with my Chinese-American identity. My parents are Chinese. This I can say with certainty. They can speak the language; they can write it; they can follow the subtle shifting social cues that are demanded of them. It is as if they possess an essential lens of “Chineseness” through which they view the world.
For me it’s harder.
I am what some in the Asian community would refer to as an A.B.C.: an American-Born Chinese. A Twinkie. A banana. Yellow on the outside but white on the inside. The kind of person who prefers spaghetti over lo mein, who is more at home with the steady action of a fork than the clumsy pincering of a pair of chopsticks.
quincykate:
so i went to hobbiton and took a picture of my...
so i went to hobbiton and took a picture of my fifty year old copy of the book. no big deal. i mean, it’s in front of bag end, but no big deal.
