Hearsay Archive:

September 2003:

09/02/03

More Reviews Should Have Lines Like 'It's Like Your Favourite Uncle Being Caught in a School Playground, Masturbating'
Tibor Fischer writes about his attack on Martin Amis's new book. He says it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact his new book was published at the same time. (discuss)

See Dick Run... Run, You Dick, Run
I wasn't surprised when "chick lit" was followed by "dick lit". I was, however, taken aback by "dead chick lit." I don't like the direction this is taking...  (discuss)

So Who Influenced Pinter?
So the person who had the most impact on Samuel Beckett's career was Henry Miller? (discuss)

White Like Me
Thomas Keneally weighs in on the appropriation-of-voice issue. (discuss)

It Wasn't a Very Good Movie, but it Hit the Full Spectrum: Me, My Wife and a Lesbian Friend Crying and Crying and Crying...
The life of Iris Murdoch is in dispute, but so it goes in the seemey world of biography. (Yeah, I cried, so what?) (discuss)

So Naipaul, Coetzee, and Malouf Walk into a Bar...
Naw, just joshin' - it's just about Naipaul. (discuss)

Annie Proulx Wants You to Stop Knocking on Her Door
Annie Proulx, who should just win the Pulitzer for everything she writes, didn't starting writing fiction until she was in her 50s. Good, I can put my feet back up for a while then. (discuss)

Question for You, Our Shadowy Legions, to Answer:
How come we can bring you day after day of these awesome links from around the world while Canada's two national book publications, Books in Canada and Quill and Quire, have nothing online? Just some food for (discussion)

09/03/03

Scoop?? Scoop!! Scoop?? Scoop!!
Our shadowy minions tell us they have it on good authority that George Bowering, Canada's Poet Laureate, fell and broke his hip while breaking up a dog fight. Yes, a dog fight. We really are just tougher up here. No links yet, but is this rumour or truth? Feel free to (discuss) and tell us what you know...

The Peoples' Screw You Award
Mekler and Deahl close shop and leave a pile of poetry contests without a home - and paid submissions unjudged. (discuss)

Glad to See They Have Such a Thoughtful Process
Well, we may not have any CanSnore gossip (except for that bit about Andrew Pyper's bar fight), but we do have Booker gossip! (discuss)

Place Your Bets
The Booker long list comes with odds for each book. (discuss)

A Dangerous Art
Adrienne Rich muses about Iraqi poetry today and the responsibilities of translation. (discuss)

Banned in the USA
I can understand why As I Lay Dying was banned. But the 9th edition of Webster's dictionary? (discuss)

More Suzanne-Lori Parks
Brilliant AND beautiful. She must join me and together we will rule the universe. Sorry, Pete. (discuss)

But We Do Prefer to Work From the Shadows
Bookninja does not stand alone in the defense of poetry! (discuss)

09/04/03:

Booker Story of the Day
An exciting, roller-coaster tour through the Booker archives. Keep your arms in the car, please! Chugga-chugga, wheee! (discuss)

This Girl Gets Around
Jenny Everywhere is the first open-source comic that I know of. Well, besides Archie, I guess. (discuss)

I Know It's Hardcover, But Buy It Anyway
The Danforth Review has an interview with Michel Basilieres, author of Black Bird, which is one of the freshest, funniest, smartest and most genre-subverting takes on Canadian history ever. The rest of you historiographic metafictioneers better pay attention. (discuss)

Guess You Don't Have to Read It Now
This book review of Asne Seierstad's The Bookseller of Kabul is worth reading for the math question supposedly taught in Afghan schools: Little Omar has a Kalashnikov with three magazines. There are twenty bullets in each magazine. He kills 60 infidels with two-thirds of the bullets. How many infidels does he kill with each bullet? (discuss)

I'm Beginning to Wonder If JG Ballard and Chuck Palahniuk Are the Same Person
The Telegraph reviews Ballard's Millennium People. (discuss)

Emily Pohl-Weary Wins the Hugo
Toronto writer and broken pencil co-editor Emily Pohl-Weary has won a Hugo award for her book about sci-fi writer Judith Merril (also Emily's grandmother), Better to Have Loved: The Live of Judith Merril. (discuss)

Speaking Of - It's Not Just Sci-Fi
The Descant Speculative Lit issue launched at Worldcon, which was recently held in Toronto. Peter Darbyshire (the crouching, quiet ninja pictured below) co-edited it, along with Brian Panhuyzen. (discuss)

Tweetie Bird's Granny Ripped Off!
I guess at 93 there are bigger things to worry about, but I'd freak. (discuss)

Where Do You Want to Go Today?
When I'm bored at work, there's nothing better than popping over to Bartleby and reading all about grammar, or maybe perusing the works of Shakespeare online. This may explain why I'm about to become unemployed. (discuss)

09/05/03:

Stet, Please
While searching for new employ- ment among various archived articles about book reviewing, I stumbled across this piece, which talks about why papers are cutting back their book review sections. It relates to some of the discussions we've been having. (discuss)

Why Do Writers Have to Take Sides?
Has the "literary-academic intelligent- sia disappeared morally in the ashes of ground zero?" (discuss)

Why Didn't The Great Beast Ask the Ninjas? [oh! oh! I know! I know! Pick me! Pick me! -- G]
Rumour has it Canlit starlet Sheila Heti is the literary editor of the soon-to-be-launched magazine The Walrus. (discuss)

I Want to Live Like Annie
Annie Proulx says she's not going to write any more novels. She also says she likes Newfoundland because it's depressing. Oh, and they may be making a movie about the gay cow- boys. Or maybe not. (discuss)

Borges Would Be Proud
This guy is trying to one-up Christ- ian Bök by writing a book about the encyclopedia. Sounds like a challenge to me. (discuss)

Forsooth!?
BBC reworks Chaucer for Television. (discuss)

Mark Strand on Pablo Neruda
Neruda – wrote some poems, got some chicks, lived life to the fullest,  yadda yadda yadda… (discuss)

09/06/03:
(View discussion area index)

'BHL' Interviewed at My Table in Nice
Lévy's new book, Who Killed Daniel Pearl, was scooped by MobyLives' publishing wing Melville House from Hoboken.  Note to pie-guy Noel Godin - I would love to collaborate with you, let's talk... (discuss)

Can I Say that on Bookninja?
"Sexicographer" writes a kind of social history of the dirty word. (BTW, yes, you can say that on Bookninja, douche-bag.) (discuss)

Are These Really the Last Days of Publishing?
And will the rest of the world notice anyway? (discuss)

But what about The Sun Also Rises (albeit Very Quietly on Audio)? When Do We Get That?
Faulkner recorded and played back Clockwork Orange-style to mouthy teens. Just kidding. (discuss)

"Gay Sprites Fluttering Around its Edges"
A PW article on the state of gay (American) publishing today. (discuss)

Heinlein, Herbert, Gibson, Sawyer
Robert Sawyer won a Hugo at Worldcon. Now he's going to build a big money bank and swim in it, like Scrooge McDuck. (discuss)

Time Travel! Sea Monsters! Christian Review! Welcome to 21st-century Lit!
Miss the days when stories had, well, story? Then walk over to the nearest newsstand and lay down a shiny nickel for a copy of McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon. (discuss)

Yes, She Can Be a Wildly Erratic Self-serving Freak, but It's Snide, Illogical Reviews Like This that Make Me Glad We Started This Bookninja Timesink
Possibly one of the worst, most agenda-driven reviews I've ever read. I'm composing a rabid letter about it. (discuss)

09/08/03

Can't We Have One Week that Doesn't Begin with Exhuming a Body?
Looking for Lorca in a Spanish Civil War mass grave. (discuss)

The Slow Decay of Adjectives
Gatenby downgraded from 'brilliant' to 'imperious'.. or is that a lateral move? (discuss)

I Bet Oprah is Spinning in Her Grave
£3,000?? That's like a million dollars! Will this Franzen book ever be out of the news? (discuss)

And Here I Thought Only the Devil was Interested in Cornering the Market on Little Girls' Souls...
Apparently the Revelation chapter begins, "So, like, Jesus is coming over (only the like CUTEST GUY in the universe - that HAIR!) and you've got a HUGE ZIT! Zap that zit with holy water, sister, and get ready to wash some messiah foot." (discuss)

He's Doing so Well I Submit that a Nickname Based on his Initials is in Order
How about GEC-ko? (discuss)

Chapters Sells Books? Who Knew?
So I walk into Chapters to buy a copy of Jonathan Bennett's shiny new book, and a map of Vancouver so I can locate our new apartment (scroll all the way to the right - we're somewhere in the middle of the pic), but I quickly get lost in the maze of flower-flavoured potato chips and trapezoidal-shaped playing cards. I wind up in the literary anthologies section, and I pause to see if they have a copy of Anvil Press's In the Trenches. They don't, of course. But I note that half their anthologies do seem to be breakup-themed. Anthologies about getting dumped, about getting divorced, about getting dumped again. Not sure what it means, but it did bother me enough to write this. (discuss)

Bloggoshpere: Doesn't It Sounds like a Movie with Tina Turner in Chain Mail? 
I hate to link to Canada's crappiest magazine, but this is what we do. (discuss)

Salman Rushdie and Terry Gilliam Talk About Brazil
And how you should never tell a cop you make more money than him. (discuss)

If You Know What A 'Swift' Is, Then This Book Is For You
Oh yeah, you'll also like it if you're into typesetting racing. Well, who isn't? (discuss)

09/09/03:

Red in Line and Verse
Forget spoken word, the future of poetry is Darwinian Poetry. Or maybe not. (Watch out - I got "you and mountainside my love pumping tractor" one time... Egad!) (discuss)

Aaarrrrr
Moby Lives is back, with a piece by Steve Almond about the politics of blurbing. And Almond joins the fray about reviewing, and what it really feels like to get a bad review. (discuss)

Speaking of Bad Reviews
This essay about the good of a bad review is getting cited a lot lately. (discuss)

Balcony Kills Poet in Love Triangle Murder-Suicide
Stuart Ross has just launched Hey, Crumbling Balcony: Selected and New Poems. There's an old interview with him on Taddle Creek that's nice to read again in light of this, plus a review written by one of Canada's most distinguished critics. (discuss)

When I Die, I Want to Be a Stamp
Canada Post is celebrating the National Library's 50th anniversary with a set of author-themed stamps. No, there's nobody still living on them. (discuss)

Oliveros' Mighty Thing
No, it's not what you think. Maisonneuve magazine has a piece on Chris Oliveros, publisher of Montreal's Drawn & Quarterly, and his fight to get graphic novels recognized as literature. It also wonders if Canadian graphic novels are unconsciously imitating the literary canon. (discuss)

Yes, Yes, but When do the Poets Start Getting the Money?
New NEA head cheese Dana Gioia in the Kansas City Star. (discuss)

Poetry Does Matter
The New Yorker interviews Deborah Garrison about how people turned to poetry to cope with 9/11. (discuss)

British Celebrate Book Swapping Day
This is nice in theory, but could be highly dangerous in practice. "Hey, you should read The Fermata! Here you go. Don't mind the stains." (discuss)

09/10/03:

Happy Birthday, Sis!

It'd Be Nice If He'd Include a Pronunciation Guide
Tibor Fischer lists his favourite top 10 eastern European novels. (discuss)

Twenty Odd Questions With George Saunders
I love George Saunders. I really, really do. Everybody does. How could you not? (discuss)

Okay, This is the Real Avant-garde Today
Even if it's not real. Especially if it's not real. If it is real, it's actually kind of demented. (discuss)

Was Catch-22 a Book or a Saying First?
Phrase Finder will tell you. (discuss)

Whatever Happened to the Word "Dord"?
The Word Detective will tell you! (discuss)

Etaoin Shrdlu!
And this is the word detective on speed. (discuss)

I Don't Understand, My Tilde Key Has Always Worked Before
"The literature of sexual embarrassment, at the moment, is largely male." So says The Telegraph. (discuss)

Genitalia, Rhymes With Match
I try to write headlines like this every night, but I can never get away with it. I guess their editors don't bother looking at the arts pages. (discuss)

09/11/03:

And I Sold it to Him - Well the Bridge Anyway...
Jonathan Lethem in the Voice. (discuss)

Those Creepy Personal Ads Finally Pay Off!
Nothing like a stalker to get a reviewer all jazzed up. (scroll down to second item) (discuss)

No Mischievous Dancing Elf Here... (Well, have you ever MET the man?)
Profile of Glück in the Voice. (discuss)

Wonder What She'd Think of Big-Box Bookstores?
Virginia Woolf really liked second-hand bookstores. She even liked booksellers' wives. (discuss)

Now that Everyone is Dead, They Can All Be Exploited Fairly... 
What with a movie coming and several new books, the debate is bound to have another flare up. It's like a dose that way... (discuss)

Speaking of Sylvia
'Creative' non-fiction? 'True-life' novels? 'Literary' 'journalism?' When the facts are in dispute and escapism isn't enough. (discuss)

Free Your Book, and the Sales Will Follow?
Cory Doctorow, one of the caffeine-hyped geniuses behind boingboing (where we got the idea for our discussion boards), has just published his short story collection. Like his novel, you can download it for free (most of the stories anyway), even though the book is also being sold in stores. He explains why on his site. (discuss)

Yeah, What Canada Really Needs Is Fewer Writers
The Globe and Mail says too many people are getting Canada Council grants, and that the process should be more "elitist." (discuss)

File This One Under: Ouch!
It's been years since I've had a blog dedicated to undermining my every word. Oh wait, the internet was barely invented then, and those were idiot nobodies at York who never went anywhere. Cool! I escaped. McLaren may not... But at least she's getting more money than any of us. (discuss)

09/12/03:

There but for the Crace of God...
Jim Crace comes off like he can barely hold it together without busting this interviewer in the chops. (discuss)

Having Trouble Accessing the Collected Lowell?
Maybe you want to read this. Or maybe you just need to lift some weights. (discuss)

Relining Ammons?
Most Canadians may not have known Archie Ammons, but there are many Americans who love him more than this. (discuss)

In Case You Don't Have Enough Ways to Procrastinate
Why don't you give Today in Literature a try? (discuss)

I'm Going to Kick Ass at Scrabble Now
This handy Word of the Day site is worth reading just for their examples. (discuss)

A Portmanteau of Euphonious Hullabaloo
Ever wonder where the term "man breasts" came from? What about "chickenability"? Word Spy has the answers. (discuss)

Programmatic Americanism?
An essay on the epic American poem. (discuss)

09/13/03:

Now it's Just Picking on Leah (or maybe Vivisecting is a Better Term)
I wouldn't have even revisited this, but the discussion board is hoppin' and after a brief websearch I realized the sentiment runs deeper than I previously suspected (pdf link). That's gotta suck! (discuss)

Newsflash! Journalists Ask Stupid Questions 
Maybe, just maybe, it has to do with the fact that you don't have to be intelligent in any way to become a journalist? (Is J-school just a business degree for people who are under the youthful impression that they might change the world?) (discuss)

And the Bookninjas Predict – Mass Hysteria as Hundreds of Thousands of Innocent Children are Injured by Spring Loaded Conical Breasts
Oh, wait... this isn't a pop up book? Does it come with steel covers wrapped in celophane? (discuss)

I'll Be Impressed when they Start Speaking in Tongues...
Chuckie has them fainting in the aisles. Yeah, I always hated that little homicidal doll... (discuss)

I've Been There, There's Really Nothing of Interest in Paris...
Bemrose's first novel gets french-kissed by Sandra Martin. (discuss)

09/15/03:

Thar She Blows!
Gatenby has surfaced for air in a review of a book on the publishing industry. (discuss)

I Moved From 1,234,827 to 1,233,827? When Does My Royalty Cheque Arrive?
Ever wonder what those Amazon rankings translate into in terms of sales of books? Maybe you don't want to know. (login: bookninja, password: waaaa) (discuss)

Give It Away Now
Darren Wershler-Henry, of alienated.net fame, says it's time to give our writing away for free. But there's a method to his madness. (discuss)

Is Copyright Thought Control?
Who (or what) does copyright really protect? (discuss)

Is Canadian Poetry Really a 'Short Street' Not Worth Going Down?
What is the place of poetry in the 21st century? Todd Swift has a few ideas. (discuss)

Captain Underpants?
As an accompaniment to our banned books entry, we have the 10 most challenged books. Do people have nothing better to do with their time? Surely there's some sort of literary news/review Web site they could start. (discuss)

Semi-literate Bastards!
Martin Amis speaks out on all the controversy over his latest book, Yellow Dog. What was he expecting with a title like that? (discuss)

The Scrabble Life
If you haven't read Word Freak yet, you're not really entitled to play Scrabble. At least not in the park for money. Note: I bought my copy in the sports section of Chapters... (discuss)

09/16/03:

The Four Reviews of the Apocalypse
These are the publications that will make you or break you. Or maybe just break you. (discuss)

Wanna Bet this Reduces Fine Lines Too?
The Oil of Olay poetry contest... Mmmm... greasy... (discuss)

If This Were a Film Newslog I'd be Talking About How Bill Murray is the Most Under-used, Under-Appreciated Actor in Hollywood, and I Might Even Mention that I Used to Tell Kids in Grade School He Was My Uncle...
But it isn't, so I give you: Does the E in Ebook Stand for Erase? Will ebooks survive? (E-magazines will. Oh yes, they will…) (discuss)

ABD Lit
So as unemployment draws near, I've been thinking of finishing my PhD dissertation. Then I read this article on ABD Lit. (discuss)

What Exactly is McCanLit and, More Importantly, Can I Get Fries With It?
Since our attempt to satisfy certain readers with CanLit gossip and trash talk was less than satisfying, we point you to Michael Bryson's review of Ray Robertson's Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. (discuss)

The Space Between Languages
Michael Emmerich talks about translating the works of Banana Yoshimoto. (discuss)

Did Lord of the Rings Ruin Fantasy?
Or did the writers? (Naw, it was the advent of the d20. Damn you Gary Gygax!) (discuss)

Cartoons About Books!
Hey, maybe they'll start running Literary Life in the funny pages of North American newspapers. Nobody reads them anyway. (discuss)

09/17/03:

A Canadian in the Pot
And it's not filled with bubbling poutine! Atwood hangs on to a chance at the Booker while things go Amis for one, another is handed his Coetzee, and a third gets a Swift kick. (I should write headlines for the New York Post. Rupert?) (discuss)

The Arrogance of Poetry
"We encounter nongeniuses in poet- ry almost every day." Testify, brother! (discuss)

Mr. Gaiman, Bring Us a Dream...
In the office we have a Sandman calendar which our seven-month-old always looks at with one eyebrow raised. You ever see a cat stare at an empty spot in a room? It's as creepy as that. (discuss)

Take That, Communist Pig!
Thinking back on all my profs who were self-identified communists and who loved George Orwell, I had to laugh when I read this. (discuss)

Gee, I Wonder How Darren is Taking This...
Coupland accidentally sort of men- tions one of Canada's best websites. Do you think there was a spike in the webstats for that day? (discuss)

Second Annual?
From the press release: "When Natalie Fuhr received a handwritten thank you card from Leonard Cohen, himself, she knew she had to do it again." Well, duh! I hear he ups Eggers' assassinations by break- ing legs if you don't! (discuss)

So Finally Someone Says It: Canadians are Hot as Hell, Baby!
What can I say, we write what we know... (discuss)

Russian Poetry Makes Me Tingle...
But not as much as Lisa Gabriele! (discuss)

09/18/03:

Online, No One Can Hear You Scream 
I don't know what to make of this. The online game Second Life is apparently the first multiplayer on- line roleplaying game to host a live virtual book reading. I've never play- ed the game, but it looks kind of interesting - you get to make what- ever sort of life you want apparently. Cory Doctorow will discuss his novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (free version available for sanctioned download here) in the main auditorium of Second Life with Hamlet Linden, the virtual world's first embedded journalist (his term). For more details, click here and scroll down to Sept. 15. (discuss)

Pink = Porn
Apparently pink covers signify porn in Britain, but that's okay for the Booker prize, as long as you're a man. Is this just a British thing? (discuss)

What's Worse? Someone Took the Time to Make This Site or I Took the Time to Look for It?
All you ever wanted to know about weird alphabets. (discuss)

Damnit, Read This Before You Submit Any More Articles!
A blog about copy editing. That's right, the end of the world as we know it is officially here. And I, for one, feel fine. (discuss)

You've Come a Long Way, Lexicographer
In our effort to keep track of all the breaking dictionary news, we bring you this article on Samuel Webster's dictionary. (discuss)

Oh, Great, So Now We're Just Props
So I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it does make me think of watching Home Improvements some time ago (hey, it was the only channel I could get, and I needed a fix - like you've never licked booze off the floor) and the wife - did she even have a name? - was reading Susan Faludi's 'Backlash,' and she put the book down for a moment to do some- thing domestic and when she picked it up again, it had become a blank book - no words on the cover, no title, no feminist message, nothing. Was it poor continuity or a delib- erate statement? I just don't know, and it haunts me sometimes. But then I just shrug and watch Family Guy. (discuss)

09/19/03:

Stephen King Receives Lifetime Achievement Award for "Cont- inuance of Disembowelments Under Extreme Circumstances"
After which it will be revealed that for several years Mr. King has been wearing his skull OUTSIDE his skin (login: bookninja, password: waaaa) and none of you suckers noticed. (P.S. Would somebody please take the cork out of Harold Bloom's ass, or would that cause his ears to touch?) (discuss)

Spanglish? We Don't Need No... Aw, You Get It...
What do Spanish speakers call this? Espingles? (discuss)

Next She'll Be Selling English Roses in an Airport Near You
Some call it a cult, others a "religion," still others believe it is the way, the light, and the life or some such metaphorical thingy-dingy. (discuss)

You Know, I Played Midfield for Years and My Book Isn't Number One on the British Bestseller Lists...
I guess it must be the looks, the talent, the money, the charisma, the... (discuss)

Did You Know Newsday is New York's Official Paper of Geriatric Boredom?
And this proves it. Note: you must be at least 50 years old to fail this test and not commit hara-kiri. Should you lack the bravery and honour necessary for ritualistic disembowelment, we will gladly shuriken your head. (discuss)

Another Lowell Review, and We'll Keep Posting 'em too until You Can Provide a Note from Your Chiropractor Proving to Us You've Bought It!
"Poetry in America has declined to a civil war, a banal derby between two awful teams, and in Britain to a variety show (a royal variety show)." Ya-huh...? (discuss)

As Much As It Pains Us to Link to the Post...
They actually have a lit story today. Aren't they afraid that if they keep writing pansy articles about girlie books and ribbons and poor people stuff they might lose money quicker than they're losing staff? (discuss)

09/20/03:

My God, Is It the Death of Books? I Mean, Poetry Is One Thing, But Books?!?
So there I was reading Egypt Today, when I came across this story about books being an endangered species. So I says to myself, "Self," I says, "The people readers must know!" (discuss)

Speaking of Books and Mortality...
Any article that contains the words "incunabulum," "geniza," "polyglots," and "Obadiah the Proselyte" has got to be worth a slice of your attention. (login: bookninja, password: waaaa) (discuss)

Atwood By A Field Goal
So one of the Booker shortlisters is an against-all-odds fairy-tale kind of success story, while another describes himself as homeless. What happened to literary elitism and connections? Have I wasted all my years? (discuss)

Chip Theory
In honour of the National Post's piece on Chip Kidd, Bookninja links to the Identity Theory interview. (discuss)

Shouting, Murmuring...
He's good in whatever form he takes, isn't he? Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. George Saunders! (discuss)

09/22/03:

No... Maybe It Says Something About YOU if it Fails...
Looks like The Walrus is going to launch in style. The Star has a teaser of the first issue. But is the editor already blaming us for not giving a rat's ass who they managed to ingratiate themselves to and maybe caring about whether or not it's readable or boring? (discuss)

'B' Is for ... Another 50 Years
After 55 years of working on a Sanskrit dictionary, scholars are almost done... with the first letter. (discuss)

(No) Pride and (Plenty of) Prejudice
Are reality shows Austen's heirs? (discuss)

"He caun ne'er be bothered but maun e'er be waked. If there is a future in every past that is present Quis est qui non novit quinnigan and Qui quae quot at Quinnigan's Quake! Stump! His producers are they not his consumers? Your exagmination round his factification for incamination of a warping process. Declaim!"
My seven-month old boy drew something we call "Finnegans Wake..." and now the book makes complete sense. (discuss)

That's Just Whack, Yo...
Doonesbury finally does something interesting and no one tells me? (discuss)

Must He?
Sci-fi-ish author Neal Stephenson tackles the history of science. He's good enough he'll probably pull it off too. Bastard. (discuss)

O, Can(a)dace!
The problem with you is that you are always finishing the wrong sentences... (discuss)

09/23/03:

Hi! Please Abandon Everything You Hold Holy!
Bang! You're dead! Boom! We're dead! And now, heeeeeeeeeerrre's Hegemony! (discuss)

That's Life
Everybody's favourite poet, Donald Rumsfeld, is back with another volume. (discuss)

Booker = Anthrax
The Scotsman says the books that win the Booker are unenjoyable and nowhere near as good as contemporary American Lit. Telling quote: "Rather as British art abandoned painting, for decades British writing abandoned story." But there is a caveat: "This year's Booker is a historic opportunity to consign elitism to the dustbin for good." (discuss)

As Belinda would Say, Ooh, Baby Do You What That's Worth? Ooh, Purgatory is a place on Earth.
In fact, it's actually a near Bradford, ON... As Dante tells us, in Purgatory the uniform is a mullet under a Harley Davidson painter cap, a sleeveless denim jacket over an Iron Maiden "Number of the Beast" concert shirt (one of the ones white in the middle with black sleeves that don't quite make it down to your wrists...) (discuss)

Initially, I Thought this Article was Interesting...
Watch out A.S., V.S., J.M., and I.C.U.P. (discuss)

Speaking of Initials, What Does MFA Stand For?
Apparently, More Freakin' Auto- matons. (discuss)

The Perilous Trade of CanLit
Gasp?! The National Post has an interview with CanPublishing vet Roy MacSkimming? What's next? A book review? (discuss)

09/24/03:

Hey Bloom, Are You inZane? Or is Zane in You?
If you listen close, you can actually hear the pressure in Bloom's ass crushing a piece of coal (login: bookninja, password: waaaaa) into a diamond. Also, apparent Bloomite (another mineral that can be squeezed into a diamond) Zane asks King to decline his crown. Meanwhile, the Friscan's (they love being called that) are sweet as pie. (discuss)

By By Lines
Here's my theory: if language has its own version of the butterfly effect, then I am responsible for every Pulitzer Prize winning story in that paper of record. Where's my credit, you plagiarists? (discuss)

It's Like Looking at an Eclipse, Only More Immediately Painful
The folks at the Literary Saloon are killing me with their worst-book- jacket-ever thread. Worst / Ever. (discuss)

"God Was a Clever Idea"
So says J.G. Ballard. (discuss)

Dubbed 'Chub Lit' it's Chick Lit and Dick Lit for Big Gits
At 274 pages I think it barely makes it to Big-boned Lit. (discuss)

Action, or Perhaps 'Agency' (Fits the Lingo Better), Figures
I was once at a sociology conference in Buffalo where I heard an undergrad refer to "Michael Fuckult and that guy Webber." Maybe these would help. (discuss)  

Crouching Ninja, Hidden Agenda: Ninja 2 Quietly Trying to Under- mine Ninja 1's Disdain for the National Post by Constantly Send- ing These Links...
Is The Thief Lord the answer to Harry Potter? (discuss)

09/25/03:

Lesser Known is the J-Au Thong
Marketing Jane Austen to a 'T.' (discuss)

Twisted Sister is Back, and We're Not Gonna Take It!
Nietzsche's eeeviiil sister (as in fru-its of the deviiiil) revealed. (discuss)

Um... Er... We, ah... are kind of, um... Like... You Know.
Okay, this could be us if you lurking women out there don't start posting more... (discuss)

Speaking of Which: Bookninja is Doomed!
Are men are on the way out? (discuss)

Fabio, Fabio, Wherefore Art Thou?
Unzipping the bodice rippers. (discuss)

Listen, the Necrophilia and Elephants are Behind Her, She's Got to Move On...
She was young and needed the money. (discuss)

The Singular They, Like that Guy You Know Who Just Got Dumped...
Whoever wrote this was very intelligent. I hope they're doing well. (discuss)

09/26/03:

File This Under: Balls Out Poetry...
Apparently poetry can do just about anything. (discuss)

Doctor's Voice Kills
Dr. Maya Angelou profiled on BBC. (Can anyone tell me what her doctorate is in? Seriously, I don't know.) (discuss)

Is African Literature in Danger?
If so, of what? (discuss)

Running a Country just isn't Enough for Some People...
India gets downright medieval on its prime minister's book of poetry. (discuss)

Kill the Critics...
...And leave their corpses for the dogs. (discuss)

Finally We Can Read It!
Nabokov's new book reviewed! (These archives are a goldmine for the timesink-seeking sloth. This means you.) (discuss)

Literature's Latest Celebrity Murder Case
I bet the answer is something like, "Everyone knows November doesn't have 31 days!" (discuss)

09/27/03:

Deaths in the Family
George Plimpton and Edward Said are gone. (discuss)

Was Eliot Anti-Semitic? 
More reviews should contain quotes like, "reading it is like watching a maniac trying to calm an hysteric." (discuss)

Madonna's Book Breaks Sales Records... Meanwhile, Her Appear- ance is Breaking Monica Lewin- sky's Mirror...
Doesn't something like this just frost your cheese? Even the psychologists are having a field day with her. (discuss)

Fahrenheit 451 – The Temperature at which Most New York Apart- ments are Set After the First Cold Wind
Bradbury's masterpiece celebrates 50 years. (discuss)

Blaser Gets His Due Everywhere but Here
What's likely the best quote in a book about Robin Blaser comes from Bowering. (discuss)

Those Sci-Fi Nerds are Insidious
First they infiltrate your lunch table and then they start writing books. Now they want to be POPULAR. Oh. My. God. Can you, like, imagine? (discuss)

Silently the Ninjas Laugh and Disappear Back into the Night...
A preview of online mag publishing that kind of just barely scratches the surface. (discuss)

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