Category: words

“It’s not hard to imagine why prison officials would deny an inmate a copy of How to Beat Up Anybody. Or The Soldier of Fortune Guide to How to Disappear and Never be Found. And surely the inmate who sent away for The CIA Lockpicking Manual knew he was pressing his luck. But it’s less obvious why the authorities would ban The 4-Hour Chef, The Illustrated Bible, and The Big Book of Solitaire.”

“On Wednesday, CNET published a 5,500-word story about a female social media guru in Silicon Valley who is kidnapped by a taco truck owner. The man handcuffs the woman in the back of his truck and forces her to create a social media campaign to promote his tacos.”

“The Windham-Campbell prizes were established three years ago with a gift from the late novelist Donald Windham, in memory of his partner Sandy M Campbell, to support the work of nine writers with an unrestricted grant of $150,000. Authors are not told they are in the running for the prize, and most are genuinely surprised when they are informed of their $150,000 win.”

“An executive editor of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers … is heading a new children’s imprint, Salaam Reads, dedicated to publishing books that feature Muslim characters and stories. The imprint … will release nine or more books a year, ranging from board books and picture books to middle grade and young adult titles.”

“The private event, which is run by the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, is a little-known fundraising vehicle where lobbyists for Wall Street banks, insurance companies and accounting firms gather monthly to discuss literature with a Republican panel member.” You don’t have to have read the book, and yes, of course they’ve done Atlas Shrugged.

“No feeling is stable in this novel, which attempts by a set of opposing images to find a place where something finally can be said that is true, even if it is too late. Perhaps, oddly enough, this effort at a healing dialectic is all the more necessary, and urgent in its tone, because it will make no difference.”

“A country where John and his brother and friends wouldn’t always be on the outside looking in, and wouldn’t constantly live with the fear of racialized violence – a country where they, too, would feel powerful, and fully a part of the cities that glowed before them. Incidentally, these are the same things that are repeatedly promised to new generations of John Grimeses in every election cycle, only to lead to some degree of disappointment later on.”

“Only Patricia Highsmith could phrase a novel of life-changing love in the language of Jack the Ripper.”

And, as such, he cannot – by law – talk about his book. “‘It’s been frustrating,’ said Stephen Morrison, the publisher of Picador. ‘Any other author would be out on press junkets, but he’s not able to do any promotion at all.'”

“Hope isn’t stupid.”