Just as soon as we're done pouring over Avril Lavigne's manga, "Make 5 Wishes" Vol. 1, we'll be heading over to TIME. They've got an excerpt of George Tenant's slam-dunking At the Center of the Storm. There's also an interview with Tenant up. Of course, Kakutani weighs in over at the NYT.

4/30/2007 12:40:52 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

It's NOT okay.

We're really grouchy now. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has fired longtime book editor Teresa Weaver and threatens to eliminate its book review section completely. Demoralizing beyond words? You bet. Sign a petition to protest the AJC's dim-witted move here. The Critical Mass blog has more on the subject.

 

4/24/2007 10:55:15 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Three young writers are forgoing good manners and decent content tonight for “BAD BEHAVIOR 2007.” JAMI ATTENBERG (Instant Love), JANICE ERLBAUM (Girlbomb, A Halfway Homeless Memoir), and WENDY MCCLURE (I’m Not the New Me) have highlighted the smuttiest phrases, dirtiest character developments, and filthiest of plot climaxes in their respective tomes. And God help them if their moms show up, because they’ll be reading their chosen passages aloud to you as part of a Brookline Booksmith–sanctioned evening of scandal. Literary-minded HALLELUJAH THE HILLS, who recently penned a real version of “Monster Eyes” (a song Jonathan Lethem fictionalized in his new rock-and-roll novel You Don’t Love Me Yet), will judge the girls in their lewd-excerpt battle and perform afterward. We don’t know what the prize is, but feel free to get your mind in the gutter at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.734.4502.

4/20/2007 3:26:56 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

WHAT IS THIS THING?

A Circle Is a Balloon and Compass Both: Stories About Human Love is BEN GREENMAN’s third book, and this New Yorker staffer has chosen the most wonderful and infuriating of human emotions for his muse. The current editor of “Goings On About Town,” Greenman has a taste for both the profoundly cultural and the inherently quirky, and the tales he tells in Circle share these themes: romance, sentiment, sex, and heartbreak are extolled with humor and several dips into experimental form. Love conquers all when he reads and signs at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline| 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660.

4/18/2007 10:41:12 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Kurt Vonnegut died last night in Manhattan. He was 84. The New York Times does him justice here.

4/12/2007 11:26:36 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

The author of the bestselling The Perfect Storm turns out another mindbender with A Death in Belmont. SEBASTIAN JUNGER grew up in Belmont, and he calmly inquires into the facts surrounding the murder of Belmont resident Bessie Goldberg and its possible link to the Boston Strangler killing spree. A plot this chilling could be written only by someone who was acquainted with the confessed Strangler himself. Junger reads and signs at the Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Boston | 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660.

4/6/2007 11:50:07 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

The Nature of Photographs is stuffed with gorgeous prints, from classic images to contemporary pieces and found negatives, not to mention a smattering of work by STEPHEN SHORE, the book’s author and a pioneer in the field of color photography. Nature isn’t merely an collection of iconic pics, it’s a primer on the key elements that make a photograph work. In an event sponsored by the Photographic Resource Center, Shore will discuss the subtext behind his images and sign copies this Thursday at Boston University’s College of General Studies, Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, 871 Comm Ave, Boston | 7 pm | free | 617.975.0600.

 

Texas State Fair, Dallas, 1964 by Garry Winogrand

4/3/2007 4:34:08 PM by Sharon | Comments [1] |