Archive for November, 2004
Monday, November 29th, 2004
Books on Monday
In addition to buying a bunch of books for gifts, I picked up a few for myself at Kepler’s after Thanksgiving sale.
Books Bought:
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
Politics by Hendrik Hertzberg
Books Read:
Urban Tribes: Are Friends the New Family? by Ethan Watters
Don’t Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff
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Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004
Dan Rather Steps Down at CBS
Rather will be giving up his posts as anchor and managing editor at the CBS Evening News in March. Full story here.
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Monday, November 22nd, 2004
Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, and Thomas Keller
Just a few quick notes from the events I’ve attended recently.
I attended Thomas Keller’s talk at Kepler’s on the 10th. He didn’t bring any food to sample, but he did an excellent round of Q&A. I always ask chefs where they like to eat when they’re down along the Peninsula. Unfortunately, Keller didn’t really [...]
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Monday, November 22nd, 2004
Books on Monday
It was a sad week for reading and shopping. That’s all I have to say about that.
Books bought:
Paper Lion by George Plimpton
Books read:
Nope, none this week.
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Monday, November 22nd, 2004
OOP Revival Request’s at Maud’s
Maud’s doing a cool series of posts on out-of-print books that should be reissued. Check it out.
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Monday, November 22nd, 2004
Jonathan Franzen and Charlie Brown
Jonathan Franzen has an essay on Charles Schulz in this week’s New Yorker. We have not had a chance to read it yet, but here’s a brief and random paragraph from the piece:
I wonder why “cartoonish” remains such a pejorative. It took me half my life to achieve seeing my parents as cartoons. And to [...]
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Monday, November 22nd, 2004
Why is everyone talking about Roth’s new novel?
In the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review this week, Martin Rubin asks, Why is everyone talking about Roth’s new novel? Part of his answer:
A considerable measure of its appeal is owing to the book’s unusual transparency. In writing about events that never happened and actions by real people that they never undertook — all [...]
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Monday, November 15th, 2004
Delays this week
Sorry for the absence of posts. We know, we know—You’re looking forward to more. We’re on application deadlines this week, unfortunately. However, we would like to encourage everyone to read Jonathan Franzen’s essay on Alice Munro, which appeared as the cover story in this week’s New York Times Book Review. If you made it to [...]
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Friday, November 5th, 2004
Herbert’s advice to depressed Democrats
In his NYT column today, Bob Herbert bluntly addressed the despair that many Democrats are feeling following the Bush victory:
Which brings me to the Democrats - the ordinary voters, not the politicians - and where they go from here. I have been struck by the extraordinary demoralization, even dark despair, among a lot of [...]
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Friday, November 5th, 2004
Thomas Frank Op-Ed in Today’s NY Times
Thomas Frank’s most recent book, What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America preciently explains phenomenon of “moral values” that polls show played a pivotal role in Tuesday’s election.
Frank has an op-ed piece in today’s Times, basically restating the argument conveyed in his book. Frank, who also wrote One Market [...]
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Thursday, November 4th, 2004
Coetzee on Roth
Another review of Philip Roth’s novel The Plot Against America has appeared. This one, written by J.M. Coetzee, can be found in the November 19 issue of The New York Review of Books.
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Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004
Let down and hanging around
I guess I should begin preparing to make up for eight lost years.
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Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004
Jonathan Lethem and Thomas Keller appearances
Lethem and Keller are both making Bay Area appearances next week. Lethem will be in conversation with Daniel Handler a.k.a Lemony Snicket at a City Arts and Lectures event on Monday, November 8. Lethem’s short story collection Men and Cartoons was just released. Moreover, advance copies of his essay collection The Disappointment Artist are making [...]
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Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
Moral values
Are the people who voted for Bush on moral/cultural issues every going to get what they think they voted for?
Has anyone been more hesitant to call states tonight than The New York Times?
Has Dan Rather ever heard of a touch screen? He just called his an “electronic gadget.” CBS just gave Hawaii [...]
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Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
People, People—Get out and vote!
That especially means you, Democrats in swing states! I will post my selections from the California ballot later today. Which media sources will people be using to follow the election? (Leave some comments.) Boone and I will be out and about in San Francisco—meet us there.
The Chronicle noted this morning that we should have some [...]
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Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
The Griffin radioShark
Griffin Technology has released a new product called the radioShark. It’s like TiVo for the radio, for your computer. You can record radio broadcasts directly to your computer for later listening. I’ve been looking for something like this for a while because I would like to record NPR programming—Fresh Air, City Arts and Lectures, All [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Technology by Rick
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
Safran Foer’s new novel
Jonathan Safran Foer’s new novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is due out from Houghton Mifflin in April. I heard him read an excerpt at Symphony Space in New York earlier this year, and am eagerly awaiting a chance to read the whole thing. The book is narrated by a child with a tendency toward [...]
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
Murakami’s new novel due in January
The English translation of Haruki Murakami’s new novel Kafka on the Shore is due from Knopf in January. Advance copies are out there, however. Please post some comments if you’ve read the novel already. I’m totally late to the party on Murakami, but I’m planning to catch up and read the new one soon.
On [...]
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
New Dave Eggers collection out
Dave Eggers has a new collection of short stories out titled How We Are Hungry. I picked up signed copy at ACWLP in San Francisco last week, and am just starting to read through it. I recognized some of the stories from their previous incarnations in The New Yorker, Zoetrope, and the Nick Hornby-edited collection [...]
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
Paris Review DNA of Literature Project
As noted on The Elegant Variation, The Paris Review will begin posting its entire collection of author interviews online on November 15. The Review, more or less, pioneered the long form literary interview, and we are looking forward very much to this development.
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
Athletes and Politics
A story on the AP wire today provides further details about Curt Shilling’s campaigning for George W. Bush. After endorsing Bush during an interview last week and subsequently apologizing for having taken a public political stand, Shilling has now recorded a telephone message for voters in three swing states. Part of his message:
These past couple [...]
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
Franzen Fiction in this week’s New Yorker
Jonathan Franzen has some new fiction in this week’s New Yorker. An excerpt from his story, titled, “Breakup Stories” can also be heard here. I remember reading that Franzen’s next book will be a collection of short stories, in part because he had trouble writing a novel to follow up the success of The Corrections. [...]
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Monday, November 1st, 2004
More on Nike’s Fenway Park Ad
Nike ran a very well-done advertisement on FOX following the final games of the ALCS and the World Series. In today’s New York Times, Stuart Elliot comments on the marketing viability of the Red Sox following their World Series victory. He points out that Nike had actually developed the Fenway Park commercial for last year’s [...]
