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Friday, October 30, 2009

News Around the Net

Getting toward winter means it's list-making time. Publishers Weekly is getting in on the act by giving us their editors' picks for ten best adult novels of 2009, "for the first time ever"! If that doesn't draw up excitement, I don't know what will.

Holding true to the law of supply and demand, there is a record number of books about cheese coming out in the coming months. I guess the study of economics isn't an elaborate hoax after all. They know what they're talking about; I was just saying I haven't seen enough cheese books on the shelves. The one I'm eagerly awaiting? Cheesemonger: Life on the Wedge, although I would like to learn how to build and run a small, farm-based cheese business. I guess I'll take both.

Philip Roth says that reading novels will be "cultic" within the next twenty-five years. Really, Phil? Can I call you Phil? Have you seen how many books Oprah and Dan Brown sell? I think he's joining a club started by talk radio hosts here whose philosophy it is to say anything at all in order to garner some attention for personal reasons.


In honor of Halloween this weekend, here's a list (yes, another one) of the ten best books written by the mysterious creature known as the "ghostwriter".

I know everyone's probably seen it by now, but I've been gone a week. Apparently, Walt Whitman thinks you could use a new pair of jeans.

Oh, come on! I'm an up-and-coming writer! Why wasn't I given a $50,000 grant? Seriously, I'm going to be huge one day. You wait.

Nathan Bransford's weekly "You Tell Me" post. I don't know about anyone else, but I really enjoy these. And since I run the show here, I'm linking it. This week: "How can you tell you have writing talent?" The answer is obvious: if you use big words, you have talent. It's still fun to see what others think anyway though.

MTV will name 82-year-old Iranian poet Simin Behbahani their poet laureate. Yes, that MTV. They have a poet laureate. Seriously. You can read about it any everything. I enjoy seeing MTV attempt to be respectable and culturally conscious while continuing to air "The Hills" weekly. It's beautiful.

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