Ha!  The Library Journal’s preview of upcoming releases is the first review I came across today that wasn’t a book about the war.  None of the titles even have the word ‘terror’ or ‘Afghanistan’ in them.  Hurrah!

When New York food writers collaborate (and live together) you get THE FLAVOR BIBLE.

NPR’s Tom Gjelten does Cuban history right in BACARDI AND THE LONG FIGHT FOR CUBA.

Robert Wagner, yeah the actor, tells maybe not all, but a good bit in his new memoir, PIECES OF MY HEART.

And two mysteries from author Rita Mae Brown in the Baltimore Sun can put an end to Wednesday for me.

Grizzled journalist Robert interviews Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief, at the Decatur Book Festival (with limited commercial interruption):

The Christian Science Monitor digs into the literary culture in Wasilla, Alaska.

The Guardian finds that “the brave new world of digital literatures has been largely anti-climactic”.

The proposed exhumation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s remains opens old wounds in Spain.

Grove Press publisher Barney Rosset to receive lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation for his work in fighting censorship.

Harry Potter rival Brisingr selling like hotcakes.

Incarnate Devil
(Dylan Thomas)

Incarnate devil in a talking snake,
The central plains of Asia in his garden,
In shaping-time the circle stung awake,
In shapes of sin forked out the bearded apple,
And God walked there who was a fiddling warden
And played down pardon from the heavens’ hill.

When we were strangers to the guided seas,
A handmade moon half holy in a cloud,
The wisemen tell me that the garden gods
Twined good and evil on an eastern tree;
And when the moon rose windily it was
Black as the beast and paler than the cross.

We in our Eden knew the secret guardian
In sacred waters that no frost could harden,
And in the mighty mornings of the earth;
Hell in a horn of sulphur and the cloven myth,
All heaven in the midnight of the sun,
A serpent fiddled in the shaping-time.

(Read more of Dylan Thomas’s poetry here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost…”

- J.R.R. Tolkein

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Blogger News Network recommends Kathleen Beisel’s new EAT YOUR WAY TO NATURAL GOOD HEALTH as a primer on how to stuff your face wisely.

THE LAST POLAR BEAR is a cautionary coffee table book tribute to the arctic’s most impressive spokesanimal.

Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s novel, MS. HEMPHILL CHRONICLES, brings teaching, especially adolescents, in today’s world into sharp focus.

Mr. Warren Buffet is pinned under a microscope, in a general sort of way, for his new biography, THE SNOWBALL: WARREN BUFFET AND THE BUSINESS OF LIFE.

Former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins reads his poem “Now and Then”. Animation by Eun-ha Paek of Milky Elephant:

via videosift.com

Michel Houellebecq and Bernard-Henri Levy—”two of the most self-promoting, outspoken, and hated, men in France”—to go head-to-head in new book. 

Manchester University’s John Rylands Library to digitize much of its renowned collection of medieval manuscripts, including parts of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Simon and Schuster to publish 23 of Bob Dylan’s prose poems, with photographs by renowned photographer Barry Feinstein.

Title and release date of Nick Cave’s upcoming novel announced.

Alec Baldwin hangs out his dirty laundry in new book about his custody battle.

My Secrets
(Kim Michele Richardson)

my secrets, i told you
but what I didn’t tell you
they’re only yours to borrow
and if you think for one minute
they were yours to keep
they’ll always be mine

mine mine mine
my secrets
my toddler’s creed

mine when I share
mine when I don’t
mine to drop
mine to throw away
they’re still mine
will always be mine

to take
keep
hide

like

your secrets
a take-me-there moment
of your man-child’s quest
the jaunty, shotgun ride-along
into anytime, any-small-town usa
a miser’s morsel
then magpied away

you never deserved my secrets
you didn’t get them
not in my voice
tears
laughter
or poetic thrust

you didn’t earn them
though you may think you have

one last secret, you say?

i’ve known your secrets
your secret need
want
touch
mine to keep untouched

it was mine
always mine

(Cross-posted at Writer in Waiting; read more of Kim Michelle Richardson’s poetry here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.

“Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.”

- Raymond Chandler

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The Palestine Chronicle lends its view on Ronen Bergman’s, THE SECRET WAR WITH IRAN.

John Bemelmens Marciano awakens the long-sleeping princess, his grandfather Ludwig Bemelmen’s boarding-school heroine, for the first new Madeleine story in almost fifty years, MADELINE AND THE CATS OF ROME.

Publisher’s Weekly has a list of non-fiction that is always worth checking. No seriously, do have a look.

John le Carré’s has spawned a writer, so it would seem. His son’s debut novel, THE GONE-AWAY WORLD, has met with glowing words from January magazine.

If you like words (and who doesn’t?) here’s something maybe to add to your wish list - THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS: HOW ENGLISH BECAME ENGLISH by Henry HItchings.

A one-hour documentary on the author’s early life, writing career and invention of a wacky church:

via videosift.com

A long time ago, way back in 2006, when AuthorScoop was in its infancy, we tinkered with the idea of messageboards. Unfortunately, during our extended retooling of the site, we lost some momentum and the forums were buried beneath layers of cyberdust.

But now that we’re back (6 months and nearly 800 posts and going strong), we’ve decided to relaunch the forums to give our increasing readership a place to discuss issues related to writing, reading and current events.

We still welcome comments on individual posts here on the site, but we also encourage our readers to go and rub elbows in a format that allows for greater discussion.

Thank you all for visiting AuthorScoop. It’s been a great ride and will only get better.

Please note that the forums are now linked in the upper right, as well as in the Friend’s list.

-William

Visit the AuthorScoop Forums.

The Observer’s Robert McCrumb interviews Philip Roth at 75.

Blurbing sure has become a hot topic lately.

Janine di Giovanni looks back at the short life of peace activist Rachel Corrie and presents excerpts from her published diaries, Let Me Stand Alone.

Times Online presents a multifacted look back at the trials and tribulations of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Banned Books Week kicks off this Saturday. Find events in your area.

The Sick Muse
(Charles Baudelaire)

Poor Muse, alas, what ails thee, then, to-day?
Thy hollow eyes with midnight visions burn,
Upon thy brow in alternation play,
Folly and Horror, cold and taciturn.

Have the green lemure and the goblin red,
Poured on thee love and terror from their urn?
Or with despotic hand the nightmare dread
Deep plunged thee in some fabulous Minturne?

Would that the breast where so deep thoughts arise,
Breathed forth a healthful perfume with thy sighs;
Would that thy Christian blood ran wave by wave

In rhythmic sounds the antique numbers gave,
When Phoebus shared his alternating reign
With mighty Pan, lord of the ripening grain.

(Read more of Charles Baudelaire’s poetry here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

- Richard Bach

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THE SAME MAN: GEORGE ORWELL & EVELYN WAUGH IN LOVE AND WAR by David Lebedoff tracks the parallel development of two very different authors and their mutual respect for one another.

Newsday writes up three kids books.

I like that The Telegraph reviews book reviews.  It’s circular, but you get good fun and some information.

The Seattle Times previews forty (40!) upcoming releases.

David Gates of The New York Times waxes evasive about plot surprises in Philip Roth’s new novel, INDIGNATION, until he gives it away, so proceed at your own risk.

Asimov on Threats and Answers for Humanity (from 1989):

via videosift.com

The Wigtown Book Festival is back and bigger than ever.

The New York Times looks back at the impact and influence of David Foster Wallace.

Sonny Smith’s “Overheard” conversation this week is just slightly less pleasant than fingernails on a chalkboard.

Osama bin Laden’s debut collection of poetry to be published next week. Needless to say, we look for great things out of this up and coming scribe.

The Novelist
(W. H. Auden)

Encased in talent like a uniform,
The rank of every poet is well known;
They can amaze us like a thunderstorm,
Or die so young, or live for years alone.
They can dash forward like hussars: but he
Must struggle out of his boyish gift and learn
How to be plain and awkward, how to be
One after whom none think it worth to turn.

For, to achieve his lightest wish, he must
Become the whole of boredom, subject to
Vulgar complaints like love, among the Just

Be just, among the Filthy filthy too,
And in his own weak person, if he can,
Must suffer dully all the wrongs of Man.

(Read more of W.H. Auden’s poetry here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.