Bill Cheng's Blog, page 35
April 28, 2014
theparisreview:
“I had scarcely begun when I realized that what...
“I had scarcely begun when I realized that what I had here at the very least was the Great American Novel. I sent off the first 150 pages to [agent Bernice Baumgarten] and hung around the post office for the next two weeks. At last an answer came. It read as follows: ‘Dear Peter, James Fenimore Cooper wrote this 150 years ago, only he wrote it better, Yours, Bernice.’ On a later occasion, when as a courtesy I sent her the commission on a short story sold in England, she responded unforgettably: ‘Dear Peter, I’m awfully glad you were able to get rid of this story in Europe, as I don’t think we’d have had much luck with it here. Yours, Bernice.’ Both these communications, quoted in their entirety, are burned into my brain forever—doubtless a salutary experience for a brash young writer. I never heard an encouraging word until the day Bernice retired, when she called me in and barked like a Zen master, ‘I’ve been tough on you because you’re very, very good.’ I wanted to sink down and embrace her knees.”
Peter Matthiessen, on his first novel.
It’s Monday, which means our new ep. of The Workshop with...
It’s Monday, which means our new ep. of The Workshop with Victor LaValle is out. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!
Victor LaValle pulls up his chair and talks to us about horror, Vincent Van Gogh, and finding joy on this week’s The Workshop!
April 27, 2014
April 26, 2014
thelifeguardlibrarian:
librarianpirate:
bookshop:
Parent...
Parent calls cops on teen for giving free books away at a free book giveaway
So, this happened: Someone called the cops on a teenager for giving away free books.
At—wait for it—a book giveaway event.
Just last week, we wrote about the difficulties Sherman Alexie’s acclaimed Young Adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, had faced during its four-year-run as one of the most banned books in the U.S.
Two weeks ago, parents in the Idaho school district of Meridian successfully campaigned to remove Alexie’s novel from its 10th-grade reading curriculum and additional reading lists.
Wednesday night, irate parents literally called the cops to the scene where Meridian teens were passing out free copies of Alexie’s novel. Boise news station KBOI reported that even the cops were baffled about why they’d been asked to police a book giveaway.
A National Book Award-winner, The Absolutely True Diary is a searing coming-of-age story about a Native American teenager who decides to attend an all-white high school outside of his reservation. It’s a powerful narrative about modern race relations in the U.S. But the Meridian school board sided with parents who objected to its alleged sexual and anti-Christian content, along with, as noted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, other stuff:
[A]n adult named Lonnie Stiles complained that the Alexie novel contains language “we do not speak in our home.”
Apparently the adults who objected to the book weren’t thinking about the teens living on Idaho’s four Native American reservations.
My favorite part?
"Alexie’s publisher, Hachette Book Group, has responded to the students’ campaign [which got the cops called] by sending Rediscovered Books an additional 350 copies. So if you’re in Meridian, go pick up a free copy."
Alexie for every child.
April 25, 2014
Shin Taga
Shin Taga is a self taught artist, and one of the...
Shin Taga
Shin Taga is a self taught artist, and one of the very finest draftsman.He was born in 1946 in Hokkaido.
April 24, 2014
strandbooks:
Old photos often fall out of the used books we...
Old photos often fall out of the used books we receive, but rarely are they actually taped into the book.
This vaguely upsetting, georgeous photograph perfectly matches the tone of this haunting (and haunted) book.
You should absolutely read this book… but please be careful with it.
Underlined passage, The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, page 64.
The Art of the Sentence: Denis Johnson
“Usually we felt guilty and frightened, because there was something wrong with us, and we didn’t know what it was; but today we had the feeling of men who had worked.” —Denis Johnson, “Work”
April 23, 2014
wetheurban:
ART: Sky Art Illustrations by Thomas...
ART: Sky Art Illustrations by Thomas Lamadieu
Genius French artist Thomas Lamadieu has illustrated a series of scenes in the sky directly onto photographs of urban landscapes.
myimaginarybrooklyn:
nemfrog:
The colossal elephant of Coney...
The colossal elephant of Coney Island (Brooklyn). Scientific American. 1885.
