Hello Again

Hello, readers. Events occurred somewhat separate to the Book Conference which involved me reporting less than I had intended. A summary of fun will come, but for now, here are new things which are happening.

David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlases and Ghostwrittens, as well as a Black Swan Green, will have a new novel out in June 2010. [via Ed]

Gabriel Garcia Marquez retires.

Last week, Alison Bechdel graphically reviewed Jane Vandenburgh's non-graphic, plain text memoir, A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century. It's beautifully done and made reading the actual book almost seem beside the point, but maybe I just have a thing for predominantly blue comic book panels. In any case, considering the fairly ubiquitous practice of textually reviewing graphic works, it seems high time the tables were turned* on the written word.

In completely unrelated news, here's one more article on the assimilation/acceptance of comic books into the literary establishment. It's actually quite cogent and my somewhat exasperated introduction shouldn't dissuade you from reading it.

The second volume of Interfictions, an anthology of interstitial writing, has a cover and it would be the rising sun swedish congolomeration pictured to your left (unless you're looking at your monitor upside down, in which case, I worry about you). Also, you can go here, and flickr your way through the pool of pictures from which the eventual cover was chosen.




*What if the table's round? Would anyone notice a round table turning? Does it mean to flip someone's table upside down, as in ha-ha, written word, you thought you were going to have a nice spaghetti dinner, but lo, now the table is upside down and your dinner but a flattened memory!

The Year Ahead, In Which There Are Many Challenges, A Licked Moon, And Zombies

Hello, readers. Have you made resolutions for the New Year? Plan on Wii-ing your way to a better body? Or finally getting started on that poem about licking the moon and eating bras (Alas, someone beat you to that one.)

Maybe you plan on taking part in one of the numerous literary challenges that abound around the internet. There's the livejournal 50bookchallenge where you and others can join in the noble goal of reading 50 books a year. Perhaps you've got a stack of books waiting to be read? There's a challenge for you, too, at avidbookreader's TBR challenge. For a site to browse various challenges for the one that inspires you, try the novel challenges blog. They've got a list of active challenges around the web, including, among others, a "Graphic Novel" challenge and a "Get Inspired" challenge, the latter being a challenge to pick a self-improvement work to read in the first part of the year, and then act on for the remaining months. Very helpful, perhaps, for those with resolutions.

If you need inspiration for new books to read in 2009, check out the anticipatory lists of forthcoming great reads, graphic and otherwise, at The Millions and Comic Book Resources. Writers to look forward to in 2009 include Zadie Smith, Jonathan Lethem, and Philip Roth--who somehow still manages to put out a book a year despite his never-ending struggle against the zombie hordes which threaten our world.

Tune in tomorrow wherein this blogger will list some resolutions and/or/maybe some challenges he'll be taking part in.

Happy it's-already-almost-Friday. ttfn.

New Fiction Tuesday

Sometimes it's nice to pause and look around at what's hitting the bookshelves, so, in a completely arbitrary and slightly whimsical manner, here's some books that look interesting:

First up, a new novel from Geoff Ryman, writer of fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and the occasional Wizard of Oz-ical fiction. His new book, The King's Last Song, is a historical novel set in Cambodia. In my experience, Ryman's writing possessess a certain humane ruthlessness, a trait I would imagine well-suited to the subject of this book. It's gotten some rather ecstatic press from The Boston Globe.

Recently reviewed in The New York Times Books Review, but actually not all that recently released, are outings from Los Bros. Hernandez, better known as graphic novelists, Jamie and Gilbert Hernandez. Jamie's graphic novel, The Education of Hopey Glass, continues in his particular brand of compassionate cynicism, the sort of book that has a forty-year old aging punk rocker, the titular Hopey, trying on glasses for the first time, along with a bit of hopeless love and murder on the side. Also, last month saw the release of a new collection of the brothers work in the Love and Rockets series. Rolling Stone calls the comics "American fiction's best kept secret."

Also, a new edition of the first Twilight book will be, erm, resurrected, on October 28th. I can't say as I've ever read these books, but I did at one time have the book on a shelf in my apartment before lending it to an interested friend (pssst. our resident managing editor has a taste for the pop-lit). But, what I have read is this list of Some things Twilight says are awesome but they are not awesome at all, which I found by way of Shaken and Stirred. It's awesome.