Good For A Laugh

We had a pretty good birthday weekend: swimming on Saturday and the Red Fury taking the Cup to Iberia on Sunday. And we watched a lot of Twin Peaks. That Agent Cooper cracks us up. The works of Mark Twain are usually good for a laugh, as are those of Flannery O’Connor. Worldhum has some serious travel writing to read while you wean off the World Cup, after which you can visit your favorite library — online. It’s just one more way institutions are adapting to a mobile world. Another year, another move.  — Andrew Geer

Tagged as: Literature in the Media, Tuesday's Literary Briefing

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One Collectible We'd Buy

Recently we’ve been wondering if writers ever participate in auctions. After all, discretionary funds are a rare thing in many writer’s lives, at least that’s been our experience. But it’s okay, we’re not big into auctions and/or collectibles anyway. Maybe this is rooted in our place in the disposable generation. That said, we do keep books (who can bear to throw away those blessed little darlings?). Props to you if you can, actually. It certainly makes moving easier. Alas, on to the day’s reading. Let’s start the bidding with Flaubert’s simple heart. It’s never too late to remember the inspiration and legacy of William James. Do you find Joyce accessible or does the complexity turn you off? Farm Lane Books reads Dan Holloway, while The Asylum reviews Jon McGregor’s Even The Dogs. Raise your paddles if you’re ready to wager. — Andrew Geer

Tagged as: Literature in the Media, Tuesday's Literary Briefing

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Watch Your Step

The Gulf may have some oil-soaked oysters, but here in South Carolina, they are still healthy. So healthy in fact that one sliced the hell out of our foot this past weekend. We’ve never seen such neon blood. This incident was followed by an unfortunate step on a broken plank that sent us through the dock. We must say that the board speared into the mud below in spectacular fashion. But while we were gallivanting on an island, people were writing. Today, we have a Czech detective novel, Case Closed. Wars require soldiers, but they require journalists as well. New Criterion reviews Michael Slater’s look into the Dickensian world. Soccer fever is at its pitch, and The Washington Post has five essential World Cup books. And the drama in Emily Dickinson’s life was not that of the theatre. Excuse us while tend to our wounds. – Andrew Geer

Tagged as: Literature in the Media, Tuesday's Literary Briefing

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