This Week in Books, Portland Catch-Up Version: Zadie Smith is a reading addict...

A Prayer Journal
By Flannery O'Connor

Apologies all around for missing the last two "This Week in Books" posts. I know you live for them. It was hard to keep track of what was going on in the world of books while prepping to travel, doing the travelling itself, and then recovering from travelling, but I'm finally back to normal, for a day, and then I prep for a weeked Up North. At the very least I did my best to accumulate some good links the past two weeks, and here they are:

Oprah! Zadie Smith! What they want you to read this summer! Her comments about reading and prison are particularly chilling because that was my primary takeaway from reading Orange is the New Black-- she got to read so many books in prison!

If you, like me, have Joan Didion fever this summer, check out this essay on Play It As It Lays  from Alice Bolin and The Believer. There is a short write-up on it over at The Millions as well, and they recommended it as one of this summer's "Burnt Out Reads."

Hilton Als reviewed the posthumously published Flannery O'Connor book A Prayer Journal. It's behind a pay wall but you can read the intro and if you're a NYT subscriber, you  can enjoy the whole thing (and maybe share some quotes in the comments? Just a thought). This combines one of my favorite contemporary essayists with one of my favorite female authors, so I might even consider paying to read it.

Here's a brief piece on book hoarding from the LA Times. I found it to be abysmally depressing, but that's just me. Also, I tend to read the books I won, so that might disqualify me.

Finally, the thing I am most excited about -- Matter and MSNBC.com are doing a public book club reading of Susan Faludi's recent feminist classic Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women, and have invited plenty of intelligent and inspiring female writers and thinkers to contribute (Roxane Gay, Lena Dunham, etc.). You can read along, tweet along, and read their lively discussions of each chapter.

This Week in Books: the Ethics of Shelving, Authors on the Internet

I loved this article from The Atlantic about shelving books in book stores. They actually call out the common Gabriel Garcia Marquez foible (I have actually pointed this out to a grateful book store employee before; in the 'M's people!). 

Marja Mills' new pseudo-biography of Harper Lee came out on Tuesday and has been getting tons of press. Harper Lee herself has been against the publication, which she deems "unauthorized," and she reiterated her sentiments this week.

Flavorwire had a nice round-up this week of "The 35 Writers Who Run the Literary Internet." Some of these I strongly agree with (Teju Cole, Roxane Gay), and others I'm very ambivalent about (the number of Twitter followers does not equate with quality level). However, if you're new to the world of contemporary authorship on the Internet, this is a good place to start. Add a few of the mentioned Tumblrs to your RSS feed to become better acquainted (and don't forget that most of these folks have actually physical books that were recently published, if you're a total ludite).

This Week in Books: Upcoming 2014 titles, Southern reads, and a 'Wild' trailer

The Millions has a thorough preview of upcoming book releases for 2014, and the list is ridiculous. What I especially noticed was how many authors were defying their normal genres and expectations-- a children's book re-telling by Lydia Davis, a very straightforward narrative novel by Murakami, and short story collections from Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood. There is so much on the list to get excited about. I'll be waist-deep in essay collections from Amy Pohler, Roxane Gay and Lena Dunham

I found this lovely discussion on favorite Southern novels by Southern independent bookstore staffers, and thought it was a nice follow-up to my Flannery O'Connor/ Carson McCullers binges.

It's pretty lucky that the official trailer for 'Wild' (based on the book by Cheryl Strayed), came out this week, a few days  after I posted about how much I loved it. The adaptation looks excellent, and I think Reese Witherspoon is a great choice for the role, but I'm still going to strongly advocate reading the book. Normally I'm not a big stickler about literary adaptations, but the book is so great and very bookish, that I think some of its magic will naturally get lost in the translation. I bought my mom a copy of this book last year, so this might have to be a mother-daughter trip to the movies.

This Week in Books: David Sedaris,

David Sedaris got addicted to FitBit and wrote about it for the New Yorker. I'm not sure what more background information you need to want to read this...

Flavorwire gave a run-down of 2014's best fiction thus far. Some of their picks are surprising, as are some of the titles they left off, but I love them for their book coverage, and it's worth checking out as always.

The Atlantic has an excellent piece on Lydia Davis that includes her own commentary on some early stories. I love her work and I'm still trudging my way through the Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, and her recently published volume is very much on my radar. I'm also happy to report that I got my mom into Lydia Davis as well, so I'm doing my part.

This Week in Books: Tartt vs. Art and Taiye Selasi

Where else to begin this week but with Vanity Fair's very splashy take-down of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, "It's Tartt -- but is it Art?" Yeeesh. The author Evgenia Peretz ponders the popularity of Tartt's third novel which recently won the Pulitzer Prize amid some negative reviews by heavyweight literary critics like James Wood. I'm not really sure why this is of interest to anyone, because the reading public usually ignores critical reviews and once a book becomes sufficiently buzzworthy, it takes off. And everyone knows that sometimes awards are doled out as reparations for an author's better earlier work being ignored, which seems likely in this case. None of this changes my intention to read The Goldfinch and make my own assessment, nor does it change my love for Tartt's first novel The Secret History, which I will continue to wholeheartedly recommend.

A new blog debuted this week, which I really really adore. I have been a follower of The Terrier and Lobster page for a long time now, so I was delighted when its creator announced a new blog dedicated to books. In keeping with her style, the focus is largely on design and fashion, and is plenty whimsical.

Finally, the 2014 PEN Literary Awards shortlist has been announced, and includes one of my favorite novels of the year, Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi, as if further proof was needed of my un-erring wisdom in all things book-related.

This Week in Books: Hillary Clinton, Kindle Data, and Jane Eyre

It's Hillary Clinton week! I haven't finished her new memoir yet, but you can expect a full report when I do, and in the meantime, check out this NYTBR by Michiko Kakutani and then laugh aloud while you read the New Republic's non-sensical companion piece. I cannot tell if either of these people actually the book or not, so I'll be making up my own mind, thankyouverymuch.

I am not a Kindle user currently; I'm not against them, but I am both an avid book collector and a super library user, so I'm not sure yet how a Kindle would fit into my literary life BUT! that doesn't mean that I didn't find this really interesting/ mostly disheartening. Everyone needs to spend more time reading and/or highlighting modern novels, I guess. 

The terrific Christy Childers, creator of Postcards to Authors (which you should be following) wrote a really nice blog post about her personal connections to Jane Eyre, as something of a response to Rebecca Mead's My Life in Middlemarch. I especially love this as someone who has also re-read Jane Eyre multiple times.

Finally, Mindy Kaling has announced her follow-up to the hugely successful Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) which I loved. Her announcement is surprisingly frank and detailed, and includes a strong hint that her feelings on the Elle cover controversy will be included.

This Week in Books: Aronofsky and Atwood, BEA 2014

HBO has been on a long adaptation rights tear, and the latest addition to their stable of literary source material is Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy. Unlike so many of their other exciting literary adaptation projects that are currently languishing in HBO purgatory, this one has a director attached: Darren Aronofsky.

The annual literary issue of the New Yorker is out, and includes some really stellar fiction, with contributions by the likes of Alison Bechdel, Rachel Kushner, Karen Russell, Miranda July, and Haruki Murakami, along with a great Talk of the Town piece on the #YesAllWomen movement by Rebecca Mead. Interestingly, it looks like the fiction this year is dominated by female contributors. There is also a long profile on John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, for those of you who, like me, don't keep up on YA fiction.

Finally, BookExpo America was last week. The biggest news story to come out of the event was widespread criticism of the lack of diversity among panelists. For anyone interested in everything else that happened at BEA, here is a very nice round-up of summaries and blog posts, mostly written by librarians and book bloggers.

This Week in Books: Amazon v. Hachette, Maya Angelou

The conflict between Amazon and the publisher Hachette has been brewing for some time now; I've only kept up with it peripherally, so I really appreciated this break-down from the Atlantic that projects how the issue could affect the publishing industry long-term. Most importantly, they address why you can't pre-order J.K. Rowling's new book from Amazon.

Since I posted on My Life in Middlemarch this week, here's a nice summary of the Twitter interview between author Rebecca Mead and the Atlantic's 1book140 (the Atlantic's Twitter-based book club).

The cover was released for Amy Poehler's upcoming book Yes, Please. It's not coming out until October, so you can binge on Parks and Rec episodes until then.

 

 

This Week in Books: Possible Screen Adaptations of 'The Flamethrowers' and 'Wolf Hall' Series

In adaptation news, Jame Campion is currently working on a deal to adapt Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers, one of 2013 biggest novels, and one I really enjoyed last summer. I can't really think of a better director to take the helm on this project, especially after I gulped down Campion's 'Top of the Lake' in a matter of days.  The Flamethrowers was unique in that I kept thinking as I read it, "I cannot wait for the movie of this to come out." Now they need to announce the casting of Elizabeth Moss as the protagonist, and all will be right in the world.

Another adaptation I am greatly anticipating is the BBC production of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series. The cast was recently announced, and includes 'Homeland' star Damian Lewis as famous ginger Henry VIII. Mark Rylance will play Thomas Cromwell, and seems well-suited in that he has already played Hamlet, Richard II, Thomas Boleyn, and Henry V.

This week novelist Adele Waldman appeared on HuffPost Live to discuss her debut novel The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P (which I will admit I haven't gotten around to yet). I haven't decided yet if this interview makes me want to read it more or less, but it has been one of the most widely recommended books of the past year.

In promotion of her most recent short story collection Bark, Lorrie Moore visited  Los Angeles Public Library's ALOUD to do a reading and answer some questions. There is a nice write-up by Los Angeles Magazine, and ALOUD will be making a podcast available soon.

You love Zadie Smith, don't you? Who doesn't. And you've probably seen a bit of Roxane Gay lately, as she's everywhere promoting her new book An Untamed State (I need this book). How about Roxane Gay's thoughts on Smith's NW? Enjoy!

Editor's Note: This Week In Books is a weekly roundup of the goings on about the world of literary fiction.