31 January 2010

Idle chatter

  • I was all set to cheer for this poll in which Americans ranked books as their top indulgence (ahead of dining out, shopping, vacation and movies)... until I noticed it was conducted by Harlequin. Sneaks.
  • If you get an e-mail from Don DeLillo, it's probably spam. Also, this is the second high-profile author interview from the Wall Street Journal I've linked to recently (McCarthy was the last -- also an unwilling interviewee). What does Rupert have on these dudes? It must be good!
  • "Nothing is more frightening than 9th graders jeering '4 legs good, 2 legs bad' over and over again." Teachers on their favorite and least favorite books to teach.
  • The National Book Critics Circle (of which I am a member) recently announced its 2009 award nominees, but one winner to note: Joyce Carol Oates is picking up a lifetime achievement award, which is not a set-up because I recently read that JCO has been unable to write since her husband died in 2008. That is just damn sad. (Also, am jerk.) So, congrats on the award, and sorry for your loss.

1 comment:

Wade Garrett said...

Don DeLillo is the greatest. I liked that interview, not because I learned many new things but because it seemed to validate my reading of DeLillo - that the way his sentences sound is often more important that what they mean, and that the tone of his narration is more important than the development of any one individual character.