Month: December 2009

December 31, 2009

>One Life to Give by Andrew Bienkowski with Mary Akers

>One Life to Give: A Path to Finding Yourself by Helping OthersAndrew Bienkowski, with Mary AkersThe Experiment, January 2010 Unlike many “self-help” books, this…
December 30, 2009

>The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter

>The Art of Subtext: Beyond PlotCharles BaxterGraywolf, 2007 If you’re a writer, you’ll find this book useful. Even if you’ve read other essays by…
December 29, 2009

>Work in Progress

>I made a lot of progress on my novel while at VCCA, but over the last week I’ve made very little. Now, that week…
December 29, 2009

>Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

>Inherent ViceThomas PynchonThe Penguin Press, 2009 When I first read Gravity’s Rainbow, I was blown away, probably because I’d never read anything like it….
December 28, 2009

>Vote for the New Yorker Story of the Year — Just 4 days left!

>Please vote for your favorite New Yorker short story for 2009 by selecting one story from the poll in the right sidebar of this…
December 27, 2009

>LitMag Wave: Willow Springs 63

>Is Willow Springs on your radar screen? It should be. The magazine has been around a long time–30 years–and it quietly publishes fine fiction,…
December 26, 2009

>The Humbling by Philip Roth

>The HumblingPhilip RothHMH 2009 What to make of this very dark little book? I confess that I haven’t been keeping up with my reading…
December 26, 2009

>LitMag Wave: Short Story, No. 6

>It’s a shame about Short Story. In its short life—issue Number 6, Spring 2009, was its last—it published some very good stories and interviews…
December 24, 2009

>The New Yorker: "Diary of an Interesting Year" by Helen Simpson

>I suppose it’s possible to write an original, successful dystopian story, but this one doesn’t work. Or maybe it does exactly what it seems…
December 24, 2009

>LitMag Wave: Mid-American Review, Vol. XXIX, No. 1

>I subscribe to a lot of literary magazines and I’m hopelessly behind in my reading. A 2010 resolution that I intend to put into…