These summer lists are making my job just too easy. See what The Baltimore Sun wants you to consider.

Another albatross of a title yields an interesting book - SEX & THE SOUL: JUGGLING SEXUALITY, SPIRITUALITY, ROMANCE, AND RELIGION.

Harrowing stories from a Vietnamese refugee make for a transporting read - THE BOAT by Nam Le.

Population control in the 20th century gets a dissection in Matthew Connelly’s FATAL MISCONCEPTION: THE STRUGGLE TO CONTROL WORLD POPULATION.

The late poet reads “The Ballad Of The Despairing Husband”:

Did Harvard snag Norman Mailer’s sexy writings out of spite?

Lee Siegel’s adventures as a sock puppet.

Times Online serves up an extract from Sebastian Faulks’ new Bond novel.

Underground: Glasgow’s subway system seeking a writer in residence.

NPR Audio: How a mother used poetry to bridge the gulf between herself and her soldier son.

“I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I’m one of the world’s great rewriters. I find that three or four readings are required to comb out the cliches, line up pronouns with their antecedents, and insure agreement in number between subject and verbs…My connectives, my clauses, my subsidiary phrases don’t come naturally to me and I’m very prone to repetition of words; so I never even write an important letter in the first draft. I can never recall anything of mine that’s ever been printed in less than three drafts. You write that first draft really to see how it’s going to come out.”

- James A. Michener

I’m loving these summer reading lists, and here’s one from The Houston Chronicle.

I’ve heard that librarians are a certain breed, and if you’ve don’t get it, you just might after reading QUIET PLEASE: DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN.

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM by Gene Robinson looks to reconcile homosexuality and Christianity and it comes from a place of some authority, as Robinson is the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire and happens also to be gay.

Another really loooong title sounds interesting, but I think I’m gonna have to write an editorial on this trend of titles that barely fit on the dust jacket. Check this one out: AMERICA’S HIDDEN HISTORY: UNTOLD TALES OF THE FIRST PILGRIMS, FIGHTING WOMEN, AND FORGOTTEN FOUNDERS WHO SHAPED A NATION.

1992 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Derek Walcott reads his poem ‘Sea Grapes’ from Collected Poems 1948-1984:

Tommy Lee Jones to adapt, direct, produce and star in the Hemingway’s posthumously published novel Islands in the Stream.

Emily Giffin is back in top chick-lit form with Love the One You’re With.

Cracked presents “12 Comic Book Ads that Taught Us to be Cynical”.

The New York Times digs into 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Another gem from the NYT: Victor S. Navasky on William F. Buckley Jr. and Jennifer Balderama on the dancer Carlos Acosta.

“A short story can be held in the mind all in one piece. It’s less like a building than a fiendish device. Every bit of it must be cunningly made and crafted to fit together perfectly and without waste so it can perform its task with absolute precision. That purpose might be to move the reader to tears or wonder, to awaken the conscience, to console, to gladden, or to enlighten. But each short story has one chief purpose, and every sentence, phrase, and word is crafted to achieve that end. The ideal short story is like a knife - strongly made, well balanced, and with an absolute minimum of moving parts.”

- Michael Swanwick

A book-length interview of film director, Mike Leigh, gets the thumbs-up from The Guardian.

Some commentary and a bit of local news, but buried right in the middle? Why, it’s a list of mini book reviews!

And here’s another economical use of bandwith if you need a list of books to consider, this time from St. Louis.

EMT and novelist, Shannon Burke, draws literary blood with his second novel, BLACK FLIES, and all to good result according to The New York Times.

This week, The NYT also takes on STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, a new book and documentary profiling the conditions at the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

A moving video companion to the great poem by Wilfred Owen:

Al Franken’s sex satire being used as opposition research in Senate race.

Times Online snags an exclusive interview with Sebastian Faulks, “the brains behind the new Bond novel”.

Amanda Craig shares her selection of eight of the most exciting super-hero books for children.

Teen poet shares the spirit of his work with his young nephew.

Literary blogger gets a taste of his own medicine.

“Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.”

- Alice Munro

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Kurt Vonnegut’s words are still coin, even if some of these previously unpublished works are of the smaller denominations.

I don’t know if 10 BOOKS THAT SCREWED UP THE WORLD AND FIVE OTHERS THAT DIDN’T HELP is any good, but with a title like that, I may just have to find out.

EVERYDAY CAT EXCUSES, a self-published humor and cartoon volume, climbs a rung to wider distribution and is probably pretty cute - cats being what they are and all.

What are they reading in India? Here’s one. Take a look.

The author reads ‘The Ship Who Sang’ at EuroCon 2007:

Award-winning author James Roy discusses the rough and tough criticism of young readers.

The Wall Street Journal presents a Q&A with novelist and former private investigator Don Winslow.

Pregnant man Thomas Beatie is writing his life story.

R.I.P. Reginald Lockett.

James Winn points us to his favorite war poetry.

“Follow the path of your aroused thought, and you will soon meet this infernal inscription: There is nothing so beautiful as that which does not exist.”

- Paul Valery

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Dark horizons loom for the American professional middle class, according to Nan Mooney in (NOT) KEEPING UP WITH OUR PARENTS.

Publisher’s Weekly has a list of audio books, perfect for taking your mind off your worries on long car rides - since you can’t afford airfare, but gas prices make it almost not worth the hassle. Have a nice vacation! (P.S. Audio books will also make you smarter on your morning commute. And not half as nerve-wracking as the morning news. Lower your blood pressure. Support your favorite authors. Find new favorites, too.)

Honor Moore’s memoir of her father, Episcopal bishop and activist Paul Moore, Jr., sounds fascinating, if you can believe a silly old rag called The New York Times.

I can’t make much sense of the site in general, but IGN reviews manga and comic books and I know someone out there should know this. God bless your eyeballs.

A hourlong Charlie Rose interview with the author from 2007:

How the heroism of a musician in the madness of war inspired a novel.

Nostalgia for literary raconteurs.

Details released for 2008 London Literature Festival.

An interview with Namibian author Francis Sifiso Nyathi.

Are you a cute chunky female writer who would like to lose a few pounds? Gawker rolls out the outrage.

“Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”

- Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette)

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