May 2013
6 posts
3 tags
The Etymologist Strikes Back
Ever argued with someone, got nowhere, and then decided to take a different tack? So did I. And I also began wondering where the phrase “take a different tack” originates.” It turns out that, as you might expect, it’s a sailing word. The OED definition is: View Post
6 tags
This Is Water
David Foster Wallace hits the nail on the head.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpYnxlEh0c&w=640&h=360] View Post
8 tags
7 tags
Authors on Film: Face to Face with Anthony Burgess...
Recently finished Anthony Burgess’s dystopian novel The Wanting Seed. Set (in what seems to be) the not so-far future, Tristam and his wife, Beatrice-Joanna, live in the Pelphase – a state overwrought with liberalism, where homosexuality is public policy… View Post
4 tags
E-Books, Libraries and Democracy →
All of the Big Six publishers have, for the first time, agreed to make e-books available to public library users.
5 tags
April 2013
8 posts
Get Ready For Robot Librarians
Call me old fashioned, but I’m not sure how I feel about roboticizing libraries. But on the other hand, it’s kinda frickin’ awesome.
Co-Exist has the scoop:
The James B. Hunt Library at North Carolina State University blends novel technology with… View Post
Words That Don't Mean What They Mean
Have you ever heard of a contronym?
A contronym is a word that contradicts itself, a word that means both one thing, as well as its opposite.
Thanks to The Week we have this whole fabulous list!
1. Sanction (via French, from Latin sanctio(n-), from sancire
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March 2013
36 posts
Poll Call - What New Book Are You Most Excited...
Take Our Poll View Post
Poll Call - How Good Was The DaVinci Code Movie?
Take Our Poll
The good news is, the book was awesome (sort of), and you can get this bangin’ best seller for FREE.
BOOM!
You’re welcome, you sweet apple. View Post
'50 Shades' Author To Publish Writing Advice
Hah! This is like someone who won the lottery, offering advice on the stock market…
From The Daily Beast:
“Want to spice up your writing but don’t know how? 50 Shades of Grey writer E.L. James wants to help.
The author will be publishing 50 Shades of… View Post
The Underground Library
(via The Paris Review) View Post
11 tags
The Run-Down - Literary Links
New Fahrenheit 451 Design Includes Match & Striking Paper
How “Chillaxing” killed the American pun
How to be a critic: ”Ask: why should the critic’s ideas hold up? While the orthodoxy may find such a thing significant, the critic needn’t be obliged to value arguments that hold up or make sense or remain consistent. Nonsense is a value. Provocation is a value. Surprise is...
Authors on Film: Robert Graves Shaves in the...
Watch British writer, poet, and historian get rid of some “frenetically flying, coarse gray hair.”
My review of Graves’ I, Claudius and Claudius the God
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJXrfwUiS4&w=580&h=357] View Post
Word of the Day: Cloture
In light of Rand Paul’s 15-hour filibuster yesterday, we decided that it would be apropos to trot out the word “cloture.” Webster’s defines itas meaning “the closing or limitation of debate in a legislative body,” stemming from the 18th-century French… View Post
Authors on Film: Nabokov examines a variety of...
We all enjoy the Dutch edition:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVtwVcYbz7k&w=580&h=357]
Get your copy of Lolita here. View Post
Literary Excerpts: "Art Objects" by Jeanette...
I love this essay. Here’s an excerpt from Jeanette Winterson’s “Art Objects” from the book of the same name. She makes a case for art as a visceral, unquestionable necessity, as something that society cannot exist without.
“I move gingerly around the… View Post
Authors on Film: Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller...
Durrell and Miller share a glass:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfO-48gAGwU&w=580&h=357] View Post
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Authors on Film: Nabokov ranks the best novels of...
No to Zhivago, yes to Andrei Bely’s Petersburg.:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3fsSL4Bw9w&w=580&h=357] View Post
Authors on Film: Ralph Waldo Ellison discusses...
Ellison discusses the process of The Invisible Man:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgC0zZ30kh8&w=580&h=357] View Post
Authors on Film: William Gaddis discusses...
William Gaddis is the author of The Recognitions and JR, novels known infamously for the length in complexity. Carpenter’s Gothic, as noted in the interview, is a “novella” despite nearing 300 pages.
Here is my review on The Recognitions and Jonathan… View Post
Authors on Film: Anthony Burgess discusses "the...
What we wouldn’t give to be in this audience:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJb3ka_ZNtM&w=580&h=357] View Post
