Prejean Uninvited - Good For Her

The Catholic Diocese of Duluth rescinded an invitation to Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking) to speak at an October fundraiser. Prejean was uninvited after her name appeared in an advertisement urging the impeachment of President Bush.
. . . Prejean said the ad properly criticizes Bush's 'reckless pursuit of war in Iraq, which has helped to destabilize the entire Middle East; his approval of torture; his zealous promotion of imprisonment and executions; his fiscal policies which make the wealthy people more wealthy and poor people poorer.'
The ad also criticized Bush's stand against abortion and contraception. Prejean has since asked to have her name removed from the ad because she does not agree with its stand on abortion.
Prejean's name is no longer listed on the online version of the advertisement, but several other authors have endorsed it, including Malachy McCourt, Viggo Mortensen, Grace Paley, Francine Prose, Cristina Page, Harold Pinter, Douglas Rushkoff, Sapphire, Gary Soto, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Saul Williams, Philip Levine, Jonathan Kozol, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Eve Ensler, Ariel Dorfman, Chris Crutcher, Harvey Pekar, Studs Terkel, Lewis Lapham and Russell Banks.

CanLit bonfire in N.Y. Times

To enliven the waning days of summer, Vancouver-based novelist Douglas Coupland has published a provocative rant in the online New York Times about Canadian literature.
'Can/Lit (sic),' he writes, 'is when the Canadian government pays you money to write about life in small towns and/or the immigrant experience.'
He also writes that CanLit is anti-urban and anti-modern in spirit, and inimical to experimental writers like himself. He blamed entrenched, aging authors (none named) who suck up all the attention.
The piece also takes aim at the system of government grants, supposedly limited to those who 'follow CanLit's guidelines.' (Coupland has never received Canada Council money.)
Yet he ends by calling for more grants: 'The Canadian government ought to be hurling 10 times as much cash at literary arts.'

How To Read

"Have you ever struggled with a turgid political biography when secretly you'd rather get stuck into 'The Da Vinci Code'? Put the book down, says Nick Hornby: Reading should be a joy"

Avery's Savory Journal

"Books... I'll never understand why we stopped burning them.
But if you really must participate in the dark art of reading, here are my picks for this summer's blockbusters."

John Irving Weighs In On The Gunter Grass Brouhaha

"How do I feel about what Kurt Vonnegut would describe as a 'shit storm' of nationalist babbling in the German media, in the wake of my friend Gunter Grass's revelation that he was drafted into the Waffen SS at the age of 17? From what I have read of the editorials, and the lofty remarks of my fellow writers, critics, and journalists of various political persuasions, there has been a predictably sanctimonious dismantling of Grass's life and work from the oh so cowardly standpoint of hindsight, from which so many so-called intellectuals safely take aim at their targets."

what we're reading

"Countdown to the Booker Begins

Now that the Booker longlist has been announced I'm eager to clear off my reading plate and sink my teeth into a few of the most likely candidates to eventually win the prize. In the blogging circuit two books seem to be getting the most buzz, David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and Kate Grenville's The Secret River. Can't discount the idea of a dark horse cutting ahead of the pack, of course, but these are the two I'm seeing as frontrunners so far at least as far as gossip goes."

Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre

Three words: cynical, comic, profane.
Vernon is 15 years old in Martirio the bar-b-que capital of Texas. Socially and sexually confused, life isn't so great for him; his dad is missing and presumed dead, his mother is absorbed with getting a new refrigerator and hanging with her obnoxious friends and has little time for Vernon. The novel opens a couple of days after a Columbine-type massacre. Vernon, though innocent, is accused of taking part in it. He's in deep shit, shit being a key theme of this novel.
Pierre holds a dim view of American society: the characters are obese, fried chicken eating, narrow minded and opportunistic. The crime is a sensational one and draws the inevitable media circus. Journalistic stereotype, Lally Ledesma, represents all that is wrong with mass media today. He's exploitative and will stop at nothing to get the story he wants including seducing Vernon's mother and her friend.
Vernon is convinced that others will believe in his innocence but they are intent on locking him up and throwing away the key. He decides to run to Mexico but makes some bad errors in judgement and ends up on death row.
The book has been compared toThe Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn.
It reminded me of Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone although Banks is a much better writer. It won the Booker in 2003 but perhaps this had more to do with the judges' opinion of American society than with the merits of the book. However, it entertains and Vernon sure is an engaging little fuck.

Stupid Quotes

We are doomed! These are actual conversations with people, who in theory, should know better. Keep in mind, these people drive cars, vote and might even have jobs... From Steve at BookMine.com .

phone call...
I have a bunch of old books I want to sell on e-bay. Can you tell me what they are worth?
Why would I want to do that?
My friend said to call you and that you know a lot about books.
You are missing my point. Why should I waste my time helping you?
So I can know what reserve to put on my books.
I charge for appraisals.
Well this isn't an appraisal. I just want to know what they are worth.
Sorry, you will have to call someone else. Good luck!


Via Grow a Brain

The Man Booker Prize 2006

The Man Booker Prize 2006 ::The Long List :
Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber)
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)
Edric, Robert Gathering the Water (Doubleday)
Gordimer, Nadine Get a Life (Bloomsbury)
Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)
Jacobson, Howard Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape)
Lasdun, James Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape)
Lawson, Mary The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus)
McGregor, Jon So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury)
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)
Messud, Claire The Emperor's Children (Picador)
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green (Sceptre)
Murr, Naeem The Perfect Man (William Heinemann)
O�Hagan, Andrew Be Near Me (Faber & Faber)
Robertson, James The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton)
St Aubyn, Edward Mother's Milk (Picador)
Unsworth, Barry The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton)
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago)

Jolt Culture has twice the trivia

Did you know:
* That 'the first paved road was 7 1/2 miles long and 6 feet wide and was built in Egypt ... 4,600 years' ago.
* That 'Antarctica is the world's largest desert, covering 5.5 million square miles.'
* That 'A typical human skeleton consists of 206 bones including 22 in the skull, 14 in the face, 1 in the throat (hyoid bone).'
* The Cracker Jack dog's name is Bingo.
More important, do you care? If so, head down to your local bookstore or library, where the shelves are bending from the weight of books packed with such fluffy nuggets. They include 'Why Do Men Have Nipples?' by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D., 'Vitamin Q: A Temple of Trivia Lists and Curious Words' by Roddy Lumsden, 'One Letter Words: A Dictionary' by Craig Conley, 'Why?' by Erin McHugh, 'Schott's Original Miscellany' by Ben Schott, and 'Do Blue Bedsheets Bring Babies?' by Thomas Craughwell (they don't).
There's even a growing subgenre of books by people detailing their attempts to master trivia, such as 'The Know-It-All' by A.J. Jacobs, 'The Areas of My Expertise' by John Hodgman and the September title 'Braniac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs' by Ken Jennings.
Scour these books and you'll be a hit when your cocktail party guests need to know who's the patron saint of motorists (John the Baptist); Arabic for the craving of certain foods during pregnancy (waham); the name of Popeye's father (Poopdeck Pappy) or the person who invented the can opener (Ezra J. Warner).

Visions

Calling all amateur photographers who have ever read a Canadian book!

Needed for 'CanLit photo album.' : pictures of locations that have been made famous (or maybe that should have been made famous but which, in any event, have at least been mentioned) in books by Canadian authors. From Green Gables House to Stanley Park to King William Island. Old or new, poetry or prose, classic or underground. Anything that inspires you.

Send pictures to alex@goodreports.net with 'CanLit Photo Album' in the subject line. Please also include:

(1) Your name and province of residence.

(2) The book being illustrated, with a short quote to go with the picture.

(3) Any personal thoughts - for example on how the place may have changed or is different from what is described in the book, or an account of taking the picture, etc.

Meet my neighbours

Twenty years ago London's Notting Hill was a shabby but cool West Indian neighbourhood. Now it's a chi-chi 'magical glade', inhabited by Tory MPs, billionaire financiers and yummy mummies whose shenanigans are set to be exposed by Rachel Johnson, sister of Boris, in a roman a clef that's already causing a stir. She gives Carole Cadwalladr an intimate guided tour.

Small Businesses Poorly Named After Classic Literature.

Pride and Prejudice Confederate Flag Wholesalers

The Sun Also Rises Tanning Salon

Twelfth Night Extended-Stay Apartments

Great Expectations Fertility Clinic

Song of Myself Adult Bookstore

To Kill a Mockingbird Hunting Supplies

Finnegans Wake Custom Jet Skis

I bet you look good in the book store

Not only can you judge a book by its cover, it seems you can judge the person reading it, too. According to a survey of over 2,000 adults carried out by internet pollsters YouGov for Borders bookstore, books play a crucial role in influencing our opinions of strangers. Half of those asked admitted that they would look again or smile at someone on the basis of what they were reading.
And it gets better. For those of you troubled by the lingering idea (instilled in youth by parents obsessed with the benefits of 'enjoying the sunshine') that a life spent reading is a life half-lived, your worries are over. Not only does sitting with your nose in a book positively influence others' opinion of you, it could actually - get this - lead to sex. A third of those surveyed said that they 'would consider flirting with someone based on their choice of literature'. It's finally official, people. Reading is hot."

BookMooch

BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books.
BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want.

Fiction about mathematics

MathFiction

A Meal Observed - Andrew Todhunter

This is a gem of a book. It has a pretty cover and the small size makes it perfect for my little wizened monkey paws to clutch. Todhunter details a memorable dinner at the legendary three-starTaillevent restaurant in Paris. That's right - a whole book about one meal! Read it on a full stomach or his mouthwatering descriptions of each course will have you running to the kitchen for an unsavoury microwaved snack. Todhunter also apprenticed at Taillevent so he's able to give us the lowdown on how that kitchen operates. His digressions are interesting. He describes how his father badgered him for leaving a toy outside and how, to this day, he cringes slightly when he sees a bicycle or other toy abandoned in a yard. Somehow it all fits together beautifully and we get to know a lot about Todhunter in the process. Read it - it's delicious!

Can You Guess Which Author Lived In Which House?

This where Mark Twain lived

William's Domesday Book goes online

The National Archives at Kew yesterday put online the entire Domesday Book, the great survey of England commissioned by King William in 1086, 20 years after the Norman conquest.
Archivists hope the website will increase knowledge of one of the greatest relics of medieval England.

The Ranger Who Told All About Anais Nin's Wild Life

The story goes that their love affair began the moment they laid eyes on one another, in the elevator of a swank Manhattan apartment building in 1947. A few weeks later, the exotic-looking writer and the strapping young actor were driving to California on an adventure that would eventually lead to marriage.

There was one problem: Anais Nin, the prolific diarist who would become a feminist heroine, already was married. Rupert Pole, the actor who left New York to become a forest ranger - and eventually guardian of one of literature's most labyrinthine legacies - spent years pretending not to care that his wife was a bigamist.