Mohammed Aissaoui digs up a rare adult photograph of Arthur Rimbaud. (Le Figaro)

Neil Gaiman adapts to life as a “famous” author. (ABCNews)

Festival of Books visitors treated to a discussion by Bret Easton Ellis of his books and film adaptations. (LATimes)

Random House gives up rights to William Styron’s eBooks… without a fight. (NYTimes)

Alison Flood looks at three decades of correspondence between French author and poet Raymond Queneau and Booker-winner Iris Murdoch. (The Guardian)

Rebecca Dana profiles comedienne Sarah Silverman and reads between the lines of her new memoir, The Bedwetter. (The Daily Beast)

Fresh Air takes its turn with Silverman with an audio piece and an excerpt from her book. (NPR)

Take an online tour through the original version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. (British Library)

Jimmy Chen explores the many levels of literary editorships. (HTMLGIANT)

Jason Pinter not-so-gently reminds us that men do, in fact, read. (Huffington Post)

Edgar Allen Poe’s “To Helen” gets the Poem of the Week treatment from Carol Rumens. (Guardian Books Blog)

Patricia Cohen looks back at the tragic legacy of novelist Irène Némirovsky, who died at Auschwitz in 1942. (NYTimes)

“On this day in 1893 Anita Loos was born. Loos started writing scenarios for D. W. Griffith while in her teens, and eventually worked on over sixty films, but her most enduring creation is the 1925 novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, reviewed by the Times Literary Supplement as “a masterpiece of comic literature.”" (Today in Literature)

“To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.”

-Anne Rice

.

.

.

.

The New York Times recaps its review page online for our electronic convenience.

Author Hampton Slides delves into the pursuit of James Earl Ray in HELLHOUND ON HIS TRAIL: THE STALKING OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND THE INTERNATIONAL MANHUNT  FOR HIS ASSASSIN.

The Daily Kos looks at SUPERBUG: THE FATAL MENACE OF MRSA, by Maryn McKenna.

And The New Zealand Herald remembers Gallipoli with a feature on the collection, THE ANZAC BOOK, edited by The Australian War Memorial, University of NSW.

The eighth of ten segments from a recently released 2003 interview:

Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.
Part 6 here.
Part 7 here.

Rest in peace Alan Sillitoe, author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, along with many other novels, poems, plays and children’s books. (The Independent)

Peter Porter tributes flood in. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Sarah Crown profiles novelist Helen Dunmore. (The Guardian)

Get a sneak peek at some of the more interesting entries in NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction contest. (NPR)

Reed Johnson explores the shared city and common inspiration of Salvador Plascencia and Michael Jaime-Becerra. (LATimes)

The late historian and professor Stephen Ambrose may have fabricated meetings and interviews with Eisenhower. (The Observer)

Gary Dexter traces the title origins of Homer’s The Iliad. (Telegraph)

Tim Parks joins the call for giving translators greater credit for the global reach many works enjoy. (The Observer)

“On this day in 1898 William S. Porter — the drug store clerk, cowboy, fugitive, bank teller, cartoonist and future “O. Henry” — began a five-year prison sentence for embezzlement. Porter had published several stories prior to his prison term, but the fourteen written behind bars represented a new style and quality, and began his rise to fame.” (Today in Literature)

“The painful things seemed like knots on a beautiful necklace, necessary for keeping the beads in place.”

-Anita Diamant

.

.

.

Trivial matters are often anything but, as author Linda Grant examines in, THE THOUGHTFUL DRESSER: THE ART OF ADORNMENT, THE PLEASURES OF SHOPPING, AND WHY CLOTHES MATTER.

Live long and prosper and check out THE ROADMAP TO 100: THE BREAKTHROUGH SCIENCE OF LIVING A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE, by Walter M. Bortz II, M.D.

Self help meets the Da Vinci Code in Alexander J. Shaia’s research into THE HIDDEN POWERS OF THE GOSPELS.

And I may have to own Charles M. Schulz’s, MY LIFE WITH CHARLIE BROWN.

The seventh of ten segments from a recently released 2003 interview:

Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.
Part 6 here.

Rest in peace: Peter Porter, poet. (Telegraph)

M.A. Orthofer ties up the whole shameful Orlando Figes scandal with a pretty little bow. (The Literary Saloon)

George Jonas muses on the odd phenomenon of the hated bestseller. (National Post)

Amazon gives back. (GalleyCat)

Irish author John Banville talks about the joys of writing under his pen name, Benjamin Black. (ABC News)

Carolyn Kellogg chats it up (briefly) with Reality Hunger author David Shields. (Brand X)

Betsy Mikel puts the spotlight on Chicago poet Carrie Olivia Adams. (Chicagoist)

“On this day in 1891 Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was published. The novel caused an uproar for “its effeminate frivolity, its studied insincerity, its theatrical cynicism, its tawdry mysticism, its flippant philosophizing, its contaminating trail of garish vulgarity, “but it sold well, making Wilde the focus of even more debate and finger-pointing.” (Today in Literature)

“It looks like you can write a minimalist piece without much bleeding. And you can. But not a good one.”

-David Foster Wallace

.

.

.

Since the disgraced New York Governor is back in the news like hurricane season,  I suppose Peter Elkind’s ROUGH JUSTICE: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER is timely enough.

And retiring a US Supreme Court Justice brings another book in parallel with the headlines - Jeff Shesol’s SUPREME POWER: FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT AND THE SUPREME COURT give us a history lesson to factor into our ponderings on the state of the Judicial Branch.

New softcover releases provoke another edition of The New York Times’ Paperback Row.

National Geographic makes a primer for the young NASCAR set with RACE DAY.

For the review & saga of my most prized possession, you can find Part I, Part II, and Part III at the simple click of a link.

Hmmm.  So they’ve gone and done it.

Today I received a software update for my Nook.  I’ve bought six books in the last two and a half months and for me, that’s a score.  I’ve read five of the six.  Or, if I’m playing it honest, I actually abandoned the last two novels I started for being insufferable, and I’m a third of the way into PRODIGAL SUMMER, by Barbara Kingsolver.  I’m not worried, as it’s practically guaranteed to be brilliant.  David Foster Wallace’s, INFINITE JEST, is sitting patiently in queue, waiting for me to find out if my crush on him is deep or shallow.  I can’t wait.

I’m loving the reading I’m doing (even when I’m hating it) and loving the ease and convenience of the device.  It’s terrific.  But like I said way back in Part II of my review, I really liked the fact that my Nook was for reading books - full stop.  It wasn’t for emailing.  It wasn’t for games.  It wasn’t for me to see if anyone has responded to my comment on a thread over at the forums of Absolute Write.

But hell’s bells, now it is.

This new upgrade sped up the Nook’s book-loading and page-turning capabilities, which is groovy gilding on the techno-lily.  I approve, although I really didn’t have any complaint before an hour ago over how fast it clipped along.  Also, I can now read any ebook for free from inside a Barnes & Noble store (for up to an hour a day.)  That’s a cool, crafty way to keep their brick and mortar shops relevant and full of coffee drinkers and their wallets.  Nice.

All of this is fine, but now I’ve a cramp in the wry dimple in my right cheek from scowling at my Nook while fiddling with the new Chess and Sudoku games.  Worst of all, I’ve loaded my favorite websites into the new wi-fi internet browser –  just to see how it works, you understand.  Of course I won’t pull myself out of a story to check the weather forecast on my Nook, or sneek just a quick peeksie at my email for a note from my agent after I get to the end of this chapter… or maybe here at the paragraph break, just to get it off my mind.  No really, I won’t.

Dammit.

The sixth of ten segments from a recently released 2003 interview:

Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.

The folks over at the Absolute Write Water Cooler are having a bit of sport at the expense of author Jenny Edwards, who has been sharing her rejection letters on her blog (along with some career-suicide level commentary).

Check out the Tales of a Rejection Queen blog here and jump into the discussion here.

Hillel Italie profiles short story author, and MacArthur Genius Grant honoree, Deborah Eisenberg. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Target stores to begin stocking the Kindle. (Digital Daily)

Jami Attenberg chats it up with authors David Goodwillie and Teddy Wayne on the timely bite of their recent works. (The Rumpus)

Simon Akam takes an inventory of the street corner booksellers of New York City. (More Intelligent Life)

Poet and teacher Walter Skold is on a mission to establish a Dead Poets Remembrance Day. (NPR)

Caleb Whisenant celebrates the difficulty of good literature. (The Parthenon)

An excerpt of John Grisham’s new children’s book, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, available online. (theodoreboone.com)

Lincoln Michel weighs in on the neverending rumors of the demise of fiction. (The Faster Times)

R.I.P. Alice Miller, psychologist and author. (Times LIVE)

“On this day in 1616 both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died, and this is also the generally accepted day of Shakespeare’s birth (1564). This alignment of the literary stars requires some calendar juggling, but it has prompted UNESCO to declare today “World Book and Copyright Day.” (And the day coincides nicely with Turn Off the TV Week, now observed in many countries.)” (Today in Literature)

“The reminiscences of Mrs. Humphrey Ward convinced me that autobiography is a sin.”

-Harold Laski

.

.

.

THE COLLECTED STORIES OF DEBORAH EISENBERG, by Deborah Eisenberg (of course), goes over very well in Los Angeles.

Oh!  And this is the second time I’ve run across Piper Kerman’s intriguing memoir, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK: MY YEAR IN A WOMEN’S PRISON.

Author J.R. Ward adds book number eight to the Black Dagger Brotherhood series with LOVER MINE, and Monsters & Critics approves.

The School Library Journal lets some young readers weigh in on what they’re flipping the pages of just now.

The fifth of ten segments from a recently released 2003 interview:

Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.

Joyce Carol Oates shares the heartwrenching story of life after the death of her husband. (The Atlantic)

The longlist for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction has been announced. (The Samuel Johnson Prize)

Jessica Ruston looks for the real flavor in the current crop of chefs’ memoirs. (Guardian Books Blog)

M.A. Orthofer looks forward to next week’s Pen World Voices festival. (The Literary Saloon)

Danielle Steel’s former assistant sentenced to nearly three years in prison for embezzlement. (LeHighValleyLive)

Michael Foley shares his top 10 books “that best express the absurdity of the human condition.” (The Guardian)

Kate Taylor reverse engineers the “mighty” New York Public Library book-sorting machine. (NYTimes)

Check out event information for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. (LATimes)

On this day in 1960, “confessional” American poet Anne Sexton published To Bedlam and Part Way Back, her first book of poetry, titled from experience. One poem in the collection is “Her Kind”; this signature piece would usually start Sexton’s readings and, when the readings became performances accompanied by a chamber rock group, would have her billed as “Anne Sexton and Her Kind.” (Today in Literature)

“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”

-Vladimir Nabokov

.

.

.