Celebrity bookshelves

Flavorwire collects pictures of bookshelves from Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Sinatra...

Grounds

If the bare scrapings of detail about Michael Chabon's next book will surprise and delight you, definitely read a tiny bit about it at the Atlantic.

NYC: Charles Bock Benefit

Good Cause Of The Day Department: A whole passel of authors often appearing on this blog (Shteyngart, Ferris, Safran Foer, Wilsey among them) are throwing The World's Most Literary Rent Party Ever on Feb. 6 to benefit the Bock family (you'll remember debut BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN from a few years ago) as Mrs Bock battles leukemia.

"Inchoate anti-authoritarianism"

Laura Miller has a thoughtful piece in Salon about the reading habits of Jared Loughner, the man charged with shooting 19 people this weekend in Arizona.

Even a modernist builder like Steve Hermann in Los Angeles, who makes sleek multimillion-dollar houses for buyers like Christina Aguilera, includes acres of shelves in his high-end spec houses. Mr. Hermann designed a glassy Neutra-like house with a 60-by-14-foot shelving system, which has room for 4,000 books, he said.  “But who has 4,000 books?” he said.
--New York Times, "Selling A Book By Its Cover"

Anonymous Obama Administration Novel Out Jan. 25

Oh my God, it's the PRIMARY COLORS of our time. 2011 looks so much brighter already.

I didn't even get to say goodbye! Gothamist has photos from the giant Upper West Side Barnes & Noble which closed Sunday.

Maybe I'm naive, but I thought this was a rental ploy and they wouldn't actually go through with it.

Re. editing HUCK FINN

And while we're at it, let's just leave all that uncomfortable racism business in the past. Racism is over! It's totally over, all we have to do is say it is. It's 2011, it's just find and replace, people! Find and replace.

Hide your books

James Franco is adaptin' errrrbody out there with planned projects BLOOD MERIDIAN and AS I LAY DYING. Okay, I saw a Faulkner adaptation for stage once and it was glorious, but would that not be the most depressing movie ever? (Then again, prolific screenwriter Faulkner wrote a TV adaptation of AS I LAY DYING in the '50s, so that didn't bring the empire to a halt. That we know of.) On the other hand, I can clearly see Cormac McCarthy throwing a typewriter at someone. Maybe ask him from a safe distance.

Filmbook: "Never Let Me Go" (2010)

For all the hype (I think I saw my first trailer 8 or 9 months ago) this was a little movie that disappeared with hardly a ripple in the early-fall wave of prestige pictures. One minute it's a showcase for a crop of soon-to-be-Oscar-nominees, the next it's a quiet adaptation that will probably be added to your parents' Netflix account and forgotten about. So it goes.

"Never Let Me Go" wasn't my favorite movie of 2010 (... so far while I continue to catch up on the year-end onslaught). Yet I can't stop thinking about its sunwashed pastoral landscapes and scenes which are most often underwritten, going against the adaptive grain. The trio of young actors as the students at Hailsham have great group chemistry and stand well on their own; it wasn't too long ago that Andrew Garfield's role in this movie was paired with his "Social Network" supporting turn in profile, while Mila Kunis sits in the Best Supporting Actress Globe chair that should have been Keira Knightley's. (You know it's true.) Mulligan has the most complicated turn, and the world's worst haircut under which to deliver it, but she's just as good as she was last year in "An Education," just not as showy.

Surprised as I was that the movie trailer gives away substantial plot information, I think its development in the movie itself is very subtle and well handled. (Trailer editors! They ruin everything that's good!) If you've read the book, if possible, rope someone in to watch who hasn't read the book. Normally I would advise all to start, but since there is no love lost between this particular Ishiguro and me, experiencing the suspense secondhand of not knowing how Ruth, Tommy and Kathy are being raised and what becomes of them is almost as intense as seeing it onscreen. A little safe overall, but it doesn't deserve to just disappear.

I remember standing in Bluestockings bookstore on Allen Street probably 4 or 5 years ago, flipping through this book nervously, grabbing it and pivoting towards the register and then putting it back, wondering if it was for me, or if it was for me yet. I stood there for a good 10 minutes deliberating, pacing nervously. If you are at a bookstore with someone, this is your basic nightmare (well, depends if you are the One Who Waits), but fun when no one else is with you, if not a little worrisome because YOU HAVE NO IDEA IF YOU SHOULD BUY IT AND WHAT IF YOU SHOULD AND DON’T? WHAT IF YOU DO AND IT SUCKS? If you do and it sucks (or is good but not in the You Needed It way), then you risk losing this sacred/secret idea that you always read the perfect book at the perfect time, that they come into your life just when you need them, etc etc. I’ll stop because these things are not supposed to be said out loud.
- Life is hard, here is someone

Unbookening

Checked out 7 books from the library
Got 2 to review
Borrowed one
Received 9 for Christmas
(19)

Returned 12 to the library
Gave away 7
(19)

It was pointed out to me that my real reading resolution for the year should be, "find a place to move all your books, and while you're at it, you can live there too." I'm pretty sure in the years I have lived in this apartment I quintupled my book collection. QUINTUPLED. It's a delightful word till you are giving your roommates notice and thinking, "How many boxes is this going to take? Oh, lord."

I admire people who can live out of a suitcase, and at various points I have. And this isn't going to be one of those hyperminimalist moves because (I hope) I'm only going across-town-and-a-bit. (I may have to hire a mover anyway, being a weakling.) But I'll probably be leaving a few dozen books behind at least, and that makes me regretful. It's a little late for Operation Read It Or Move It.

This close to a tiny earthquake

Book critic Sam Anderson is leaving New York to write for the New York Times Magazine. You know Mr. Moss, I'm busy, but I'm not that busy. Just saying.

All The Books I Read In 2010

I took a few off this list before posting (gotta have some secrets!), but I believe there were 146 total.

January

Tobias Wolff, OLD SCHOOL

Jonathan Dee, THE PRIVILEGES

Michael Greenberg, BEG, BORROW, STEAL

Katie Arnoldi, POINT DUME

Joshua Ferris, THE UNNAMED

Rebecca Goldstein, 36 ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Matthew Crawford, SHOP CLASS AS SOULCRAFT

Amy Sohn, PROSPECT PARK WEST

Liz Robbins, A RACE LIKE NO OTHER

Julie Klausner, I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR BAND

Noah Tsika, GODS AND MONSTERS

Jose Quiroga, LAW OF DESIRE

Sheila Weller, GIRLS LIKE US

Zachary Mason, THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY

February

“The Uptight Seattleite,” A SENSITIVE LIBERAL’S GUIDE TO LIFE

Dan Brown, THE LOST SYMBOL

David R. Dow, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION

Stewart Copeland, STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN

Lynn Barber, AN EDUCATION

Julie Powell, CLEAVING

Kate Rockland, FALLING IS LIKE THIS

Elizabeth Gilbert, COMMITTED

John Banville, THE INFINITIES

David Shields, REALITY HUNGER

Patrick O’Brian, MASTER AND COMMANDER

Peter Hedges, THE HEIGHTS

March

Chang-Rae Lee, THE SURRENDERED

Sandman #3: DREAM COUNTRY

Peter Bognanni, THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW

Francis Wheeler, STRANGE DAYS INDEED

Stephen Dobyns, THE WRESTLER’S CRUEL STUDY

Piper Kerman, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Matt Kepnes, NOMADIC MATT’S GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL WORLD TRAVEL

April

Christopher MacDougall, BORN TO RUN

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL LIE: 26 TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE IN YOUR 20S

Mark Kurlansky, THE EASTERN STARS

David Plante, THE PURE LOVER

Cornelia Read, INVISIBLE BOY

Peter Carey, PARROTT AND OLIVIER IN AMERICA

Russell Hoban, RIDDLEY WALKER

Jen Lancaster, MY FAIR LAZY

Meghan Daum, LIFE WOULD BE PERFECT IF I LIVED IN THAT HOUSE

May

Lorrie Moore, A GATE AT THE STAIRS

Christos Tsiolkos, THE SLAP

Conor Bowman, THE LAST ESTATE

Louis Menand, THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

Emily Gould, AND THE HEART SAYS WHATEVER

Christine Wunnicke, MISSOURI

Brady Udall, THE LONELY POLYGAMIST

Frederick Reiken, DAY FOR NIGHT

Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST

Marguerite Duras, DESTROY, SHE SAID

Dean Karnazes, 50/50

Nicholas Carr, THE SHALLOWS

Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters, ANDROID KARENINA

Simon Rich, ELLIOTT ALLAGASH

Michael Idov, GROUND UP

Joe Queenan, CLOSING TIME

June

Gretchen Rubin, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT

Bret Easton Ellis, LESS THAN ZERO

Bret Easton Ellis, IMPERIAL BEDROOMS

Sam Lipsyte, THE ASK

Bret Easton Ellis, THE RULES OF ATTRACTION

Bret Easton Ellis, LUNAR PARK

Bret Easton Ellis, THE INFORMERS

Sloane Crosley, HOW DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER

Henning Mankell, FACELESS KILLERS

Laurence Cosse, A NOVEL BOOKSTORE

D.H. Lawrence, WOMEN IN LOVE

David Mitchell, THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET

Philip K. Dick, A SCANNER DARKLY

David Foster Wallace, A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN

July

Matt Stewart, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Gary Vaynerchuk, CRUSH IT!

Allegra Goodman, THE COOKBOOK COLLECTOR

Carolyn Parkhurst, THE NOBODIES ALBUM

Sharon Pomerantz, RICH BOY

Susan Fletcher, CORRAG

(reread) David Mitchell, CLOUD ATLAS

David Foster Wallace, EVERYTHING AND MORE

Eliot Asinof, EIGHT MEN OUT

Avis Cardella, SPENT

August

Philip Roth, THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL

Jonathan Mahler, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BRONX IS BURNING

(reread) Colson Whitehead, THE INTUITIONIST

Jim Bouton, BALL FOUR

Rosecrans Baldwin, YOU LOST ME THERE

Jerry della Femina, FROM THOSE WONDERFUL FOLKS WHO GAVE YOU PEARL HARBOR

Scarlett Thomas, OUR TRAGIC UNIVERSE

Tom McCarthy, C

September

Ralph Sassone, THE INTIMATES

Julia Glass, THE WIDOWER’S TALE

Daniel Kehlmann, FAME: A NOVEL IN NINE EPISODES

William Powers, HAMLET’S BLACKBERRY

Steven Milhauser, MARTIN DRESSLER

Norman Maclean, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Sara Marcus, GIRLS TO THE FRONT

David Foster Wallace, CONSIDER THE LOBSTER

October

Gish Jen, WORLD AND TOWN

Bernhard Schlink, THE WEEKEND

Mike Birbiglia, SLEEPWALK WITH ME

Jennifer Belle, THE SEVEN-YEAR BITCH

Adam Levin, THE INSTRUCTIONS

Ian Frazier, TRAVELS IN SIBERIA

John L Parker, ONCE A RUNNER

Haruki Murakami, AFTER DARK

Rachel Shukert, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT

Colson Whitehead, APEX HIDES THE HURT

Colson Whitehead, THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK

Colson Whitehead, SAG HARBOR

Colson Whitehead, JOHN HENRY DAYS

Jane Smiley, THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER

Don DeLillo, MAO II

Patti Smith, JUST KIDS

Dinaw Mengestu, HOW TO READ THE AIR

November

Josh Karlen, LOST LUSTRE

Deborah McKinlay, THE VIEW FROM HERE

Bill Carter, THE WAR FOR LATE NIGHT

Joanna Smith Rakoff, A FORTUNATE AGE

Randy Frost and Gail Sketeree, STUFF: COMPULSIVE HOARDING AND THE MEANING OF THINGS

Douglas Coupland, MARSHALL MCLUHAN: YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY WORK!           

Rachel Toor, PERSONAL RECORD

Laura Hillenbrand, UNBROKEN

Beryl Bainbridge, WATSON’S APOLOGY

December

Steve Martin, AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY

Darren Dochuk, FROM BIBLE BELT TO SUNBELT

David Nicholls, ONE DAY

(reread) Dodie Smith, I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

Siddhartha Muhkerjee, THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES

Matthew Gallaway, THE METROPOLIS CASE

Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett and Amanda Pressner, THE LOST GIRLS

David Lipsky, ALTHOUGH OF COURSE YOU END UP BECOMING YOURSELF

Haruki Murakami, A WILD SHEEP CHASE

2011 Reading Resolutions

Read 2666. I've owned a copy for over a year now and it seems like every time I read a best of decade list, or the A.V. Club does some kind of round-up, some self-appointed conscience-person pipes up to ask why this book isn't represented. Then I look at it on my shelf and think "Well but first I should read X, Y, and Z and also those essays by A" and then my brain shuts down and I make some more coffee instead. Let's do this thing this year. Love it or hate it (probably love given all its accolades up to now). 
Read the 3 David Foster Wallace short-story collections. I finished THE BROOM OF THE SYSTEM in bed this morning (when I said I was going to give that up, I lied).
Knock 3 books off the Modern Library list. That should be stupidly easy.

So, what are yours? (Edited to add: I feel mine are devastatingly simplistic now that I've read the L.A. Times list of reading resolutions from authors. Please to note.)