Category Archives: books
Premonitions of the Literature to Come: Newton Arvin in Harper’s Bazaar, March 1947
I’m in Northampton, MA today, at the Smith College archives, where I am researching the life of Newton Arvin. My partner Dustin Schell and I are adapting Barry Werth’s biography of him, The Scarlet Professor, into a screenplay. Much of … Continue reading
Two Lives, More
Janet Malcolm’s Two Lives is a parade of everything I have been thinking about. I’ve had the copy I’m reading for several years. While I wait for my edits to come back to me from my editor, and prepare for … Continue reading
Filed under books
I Love BOMB Reading + Like A Boss with Emily Books + Mentors in Paperback
It’s a busy time. First, this Monday, February 6th, I’m reading from a new short story, just finished, unpublished, not even under submission yet. The occasion is the BOMB Magazine I <3 BOMB party, at the Powerhouse Arena bookstore in DUMBO, … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, books, bookstores, dance break, what I am working on, writers, writing
I Just Feel Like It Is Going In A Really Random Direction
It seems to me the idea of inspiration is a terrible burden, to many. A cruel one. A myth. I think people are haunted by it, as they are horoscopes that say they’ll meet a lover this week, or that … Continue reading
On Asteroids, Stereoscopic Novels and Time
Tuesday night, as an asteroid was coming very close to striking Earth, I was re-reading a graphic novel I was teaching, Asterios Polyp, that concludes with an asteroid hurtling at the main character, who is, yes, on Earth. I thought about … Continue reading
Sonata
After a year of residencies and travel, I find I do not want to leave New York, not right now. Sometimes I do not even leave my apartment. It was all I could do to agree to see my family … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, books, novels
Life With Mr. Dangerous and Other Stories
1. A friend wrote “What is this frenzy of activity?” Answer: I made a deal with myself that all posts drafted over 1000 words had to be considered as possible essays and finished as such and sent out to magazines … Continue reading
On Maud Newton On David Foster Wallace
Maud Newton astutely considered the legacy of David Foster Wallace in the New York Times Magazine last weekend. I thought it was an exhilarating read. She begins with a quote from “Tense Present” and then uses it as a mirror from … Continue reading
In My Book Bag This Week – August 12
Mike Albo’s hilarious tell-all roman-a-clef of life as a freelance writer, The Junket. Get it. For weeks now I’ve had a galley for The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst. I love it. Don’t you want me to review it? Yes … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, books, fiction, Korean American, novels
Silver Sparrow
One of the moments I love best in my interview with Tayari Jones over at Algonquin Books’ blog is when I ask her about something she said in another interview about a year previous, right after she’d finished the novel: “It … Continue reading
