Home of Eudory Welty to be inducted into the Southern Literary Trail.

With the fiftieth anniversary of his death around the corner, Raymond Chandler gets a fresh look from The Rumpus and The Telegraph.

Rachel Cooke urges a battle to save Britain’s libraries.

The Guardian examines France’s “strange love affair” with William Faulkner.

Luke Leitch, writing for the Times, presents two interesting takes on authors’ sophomore efforts: 10 Spectacular second novels and 10 Cursed second novels.

“Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.”

-Blaise Pascal

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Bart Ehrman’s, JESUS INTERRUPTED: REVEALING THE HIDDEN CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE (AND WHY WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM.) leads a duo of sneak-peeks into The New York Times list for the week.

Kosovo hosts Jeffrey Fleishman’s new novel, PROMISED VIRGINS, A NOVEL OF JIHAD, and Fleishman’s journalism brings credibility to the project.

BOOK OF LIES, by Brad Meltzer, goes over well at blogcritics.org.

Joe Meno’s latest, THE GREAT PERHAPS, is endorsed, with caveats, by Kirkus.

Editor’s note: From March 15th to March 28th, Afternoon Viewing will present parts 1 through 14 of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “A Sense of Life”. Previous installments here.

From the YouTube description:

Director Michael Paxton profiles writer and thinker Ayn Rand, a Russian-born author who championed the ideals of capitalism, individualism and reason, and gained notoriety for Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Through a mix of interviews and movie clips, Paxton chronicles the popular writer’s life, not her controversial philosophies. Actress Sharon Gless narrates the film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

Andrew Motion retires as British Poet Laureate, the first in 400 years to do so.

The Morning Call chats it up with Michael Chabon.

Publishers strike deal with Scribd to give away e-book content in that drug-dealer “first taste is free” sort of way.

Novelist Sarah Dunn talks many, if not all, things New York with New York Magazine.

Iranian blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi dies in prison, as Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi continues to rot in jail.

“I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes.”

-Philip Dusenberry

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Mary Gaitskill’s, DON’T CRY: STORIES, gains momentum as it goes, so says the Daily Camera.

Kirkus stars the Alec Wilkinson’s biography of THE PROTEST SINGER: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF PETE SEEGER.

It’s got to be a good thing that Salon calls THE SEANCE by John Harwood a must-read.  That way I can blame another book expenditure on someone else.

USA Today does a four shot fiction roundup to kick off the weekend.

Editor’s note: From March 15th to March 28th, Afternoon Viewing will present parts 1 through 14 of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “A Sense of Life”. Previous installments here.

From the YouTube description:

Director Michael Paxton profiles writer and thinker Ayn Rand, a Russian-born author who championed the ideals of capitalism, individualism and reason, and gained notoriety for Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Through a mix of interviews and movie clips, Paxton chronicles the popular writer’s life, not her controversial philosophies. Actress Sharon Gless narrates the film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

Dylan Thomas flick gets picked apart by the Times (interesting trivia: star Kiera Knightley’s mom wrote the screenplay).

The New York Times recaps the recent onslaught of literary prize nominees.

Political protest in France leads masses to the book the president hates.

The Washington Times digs into Obama’s book deals.

io9 presents “11 Books About People Whose Childhoods Were Worse Than Yours”.

Gawker compares Bush book deal to those of other pols.

“Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.”

-Neil Gaiman

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The Andover Townsman leaves some space on the page for Youth Book Reviews, so come to find out that Jane Austen’s, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, is a bit of a disappointment.

Here’s a  couple of quick reviews of two newly released poetry volumes by Lucille Clifton and Elizabeth Spires, from The Baltimore Sun.

William Julius Wilson’s, MORE THAN JUST RACE: BEING BLACK AND POOR IN THE INNER CITY, calls out the elephant in the room, according to Salon magazine.

National Geographic has released another stunning coffee table book, this time for the more mystical among us - SACRED PLACES OF A LIFETIME: 500 OF THE WORLD’S MOST PEACEFUL AND POWERFUL DESTINATIONS.

Editor’s note: From March 15th to March 28th, Afternoon Viewing will present parts 1 through 14 of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “A Sense of Life”. Previous installments here.

From the YouTube description:

Director Michael Paxton profiles writer and thinker Ayn Rand, a Russian-born author who championed the ideals of capitalism, individualism and reason, and gained notoriety for Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Through a mix of interviews and movie clips, Paxton chronicles the popular writer’s life, not her controversial philosophies. Actress Sharon Gless narrates the film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

LitKicks’ Levi Asher pushes back against the tendency to measure Updike solely by the ‘Rabbit’ novels.

Seamus Heaney takes the £40,000 David Cohen prize for literature.

Sony adds more than half a million books from Google’s public domain stash for its Reader Digital Book.

The 2009 Man Booker International Prize list of contenders:

Peter Carey (Australia)
Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India)
E.L. Doctorow (USA)
James Kelman (UK)
Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
Alice Munro (Canada)
V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Kenya)
Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

“I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.”

-Truman Capote

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Author Julie Myerson gets skinned alive by The Times for bad writing and, worse still, airing personal drama for profit and sympathy in THE LOST CHILD.

THE MYTH OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM by Godfrey Hodgson swoops and dives on American pride points, but The Atlantic points out its imbalances.

Elizabeth Kelly gets her kudos for her debut novel, APOLOGIZE, APOLOGIZE!, from wowowow.com.

And North County Public Radio broadcasts a review of Peter Bronski’s, AT THE MERCY OF THE MOUNTAINS: TRUE STORIES OF SURVIVAL AND TRAGEDY IN NEW YORK’S ADIRONDACKS.

Editor’s note: From March 15th to March 28th, Afternoon Viewing will present parts 1 through 14 of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “A Sense of Life”. Previous installments here.

From the YouTube description:

Director Michael Paxton profiles writer and thinker Ayn Rand, a Russian-born author who championed the ideals of capitalism, individualism and reason, and gained notoriety for Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Through a mix of interviews and movie clips, Paxton chronicles the popular writer’s life, not her controversial philosophies. Actress Sharon Gless narrates the film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

The Literary Saloon reports that the “judges’ list of contenders” for the Man Booker Prize will be announced today.

First-time novelist Gaynor Arnold makes the Orange Prize for Fiction longlist for her fictional account of Charles Dickens’ wife, Girl in a Blue Dress.

MacAllister Stone has posted the transcript from award-winning author Elizabeth Bear’s recent chat at Absolute Write.

Discovery Communications (parent company of the Discovery Channel) files a patent suit against Amazon over a claim to Kindle’s technology.

Luke Leitch, writing for TimesOnline, examines 10 Literary one-hit wonders.

Proust named as favorite author by French writers.

“The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt it didn’t matter.”

-Edward Albee

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Laura Lippman makes good in showing a fictional fiction writer falling on her face in LIFE SENTENCES.

An avalanche in too much detail makes Jennifer Woodlief’s, A WALL OF WHITE, a bit cumbersome.

Digital music and how it came to be, RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC, by Greg Kot, is a spotlighted review by Library Journal.

And Publishers Weekly rolls out its latest bushel of Web Exclusives.

Editor’s note: From March 15th to March 28th, Afternoon Viewing will present parts 1 through 14 of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “A Sense of Life”. Previous installments here.

From the YouTube description:

Director Michael Paxton profiles writer and thinker Ayn Rand, a Russian-born author who championed the ideals of capitalism, individualism and reason, and gained notoriety for Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Through a mix of interviews and movie clips, Paxton chronicles the popular writer’s life, not her controversial philosophies. Actress Sharon Gless narrates the film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.