“Geeks in love” wed in Central Park
Jean-Paul Beaubier, also known as the X-Man Northstar, and his long-time boyfriend Kyle Jinadu married last Wednesday in a lavish ceremony in New York City’s Central Park. X-Men, Avengers, Kyle’s… Read more »
“A worn, well-loved book” — by any other name
Two weeks ago Stephen King announced that he would publish a new book, Joyland, with publisher Hard Case Crime. Hard Case covers are, at first glance, indistinguishable from their hardboiled,… 3 / Read more »
The life and work of Ödön von Horváth
Ödön von Horváth, author of the novels The Eternal Philistine and Youth Without God — the first in print and the second forthcoming from Melville House — died on this… Read more »
Everybody’s an Expert, or, 1,972 Amazon Reviewers Can’t Be Wrong
Alison Flood reports in the Guardian that a Harvard Business School study finds that “Amazon reviews are just as likely to give an accurate summary of a book’s quality as… Read more »
Fifty Shades of Gray?
A copyeditor, or proofreader, reading the headline above, would need to pause — if he or she has even an average awareness of the flotsam of American culture, the one… Read more »
The Avenue Reads
Thousands of Tunisians crowded the heart of the capital yesterday, occupying Habib Bourguiba Avenue in a silent demonstration dubbed “The Avenue Reads.” A Facebook page created for the event explains:… Read more »
House Band
“As I grew older, my friendships formed through a shared sense of disgust with our peers and our world, and a desire to find something of intrinsic value. Music was… Read more »
Big in Japan
Forty-five years ago Oxford University Press published the first edition of William H. McNeill’s survey, A World History. It’s still in print. Now in its fourth edition, the book has… Read more »
I’ve been Kerouacking through life — but I should have been a Faulkner
Alexander Nazaryan at the Daily News (New York — not L.A. or Galveston) has compiled a list of neologisms, taken from the online Urban Dictionary, all derived from the names of famous… Read more »
Something rotten in Arizona: Where books aren’t “banned,” just put in boxes in storage
“I grew up in South Tucson. So when I go down to Tucson Unified School District, I’m going home.” — John Huppenthal Like many of us, John Huppenthal would seem… 1 / Read more »