Bomb: The Author Interviews. Edited by Betsy Sussler. Introduction by Francine Prose. Soho Press, November 2014.
Since 1981 BOMB has been publishing conversations between artists. Collected here are the best from the literary world. These are not your run of the mill author interviews featuring a journalist throwing canned questions at a writer, these are conversations between writers and delve into the essence of creativity. Pairings include Martin Amis and Patrick McGrath Roberto Bolano and Carmen Boullosa, Junot Diaz and Edwidge Danticat, Jennifer Egan and Heidi Juilavits, Chaels Simic and Thomaz Salamun, John Edgar Wideman and Caryl Philips among others.
An amazing compilation of writers talking writing and essential reading for any admirer of contemporary literature.
The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books by Azar Nafisi
What do Mark Twain, Sinclair Lewis, Carson McCullers and James Baldwin have in common? Each writer had played a pivotal role in providing Azar Nafasi’s her first tastes of America. An America that now “demonstrates little empathy for people’s well-being, that dismisses imagination and thought, branding passion for knowledge as irrelevant.”
Nafisi, whose Reading Lolita in Tehran was a runaway bestseller, imagines a new territory and invites readers everywhere “to join her as citizens of the Republic of Imagination, a country with no borders and few restrictions”
I’m in.
Published by Viking, October 2014
A look at the book on PBS Newshour
Reading Lolita in Tehran Used/Collectible | New
A Muse & A Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery and Magic by Peter Turchi.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer where Turchi pitted the craft of writing against the art of mapmaking, A Muse & A Maze looks at the relationship between writing, mystery, and puzzles. For Turchi writing is a kind of puzzle with writers always dealing with what to include, what to leave out and how to organize it.
Warning: Do not stare at the cover illustration for too long.
Published by Trinity University Press, November, 2014.
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Writers: Literary Lives in Focus Edited by Goffredo Fofi.
A compilation of 250 photographic portraits of writers. A veritable who’s who of the leading writers and photographers of the 20th century. There’s Auden by Avedon, de Beauvoir by Cartier-Bresson, Duras by Doisneau, Proust by Man Ray, Huxley by Halsman, Apollinaire by Picasso, Arundhati Roy by Raghu Rai, Raymond Carver by Bob Adelman, Zadie Smith by Eamonn McCabe . . .
This is not only a book of significant photographs for we also get a glimpse of the unique moment of each portrait. Each image is accompanied by text which explains the reason for the choice, recalls the masterpieces of the author, and narrates the story of the image.
Wow!
Published by contrasto, September 2014.
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And if you’re in the market for something to listen to Audible has just released a new audio version of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. This one narrated by Tim Robbins, a perfect fit.
“I love this book. Fahrenheit 451 is such an important book in so many ways and it’s so great to revisit it,” said Robbins. “The whole format of audiobooks is, in a way, making sure that Fahrenheit 451 doesn’t happen. It’s creating another way for literature to survive. If the audiobook is heard, more people will discover what is a great book.”