December 2005
by Caryn Thurman December 1st, 2005 5:40am
Children's author and illustrator Stan Berenstain died Saturday in Pennsylvania. Berenstain and his wife Jan created, authored and illustrated the wildly popular kids' series, The Berenstain Bears. With over 200 books in the series, the Berenstains have helped many young children learn to love to read, while slipping in a few life lessons in at the same time.
by Caryn Thurman December 1st, 2005 11:33am
The annual holiday newsletter is a genre that's too often overlooked in literature, as far as I'm concerned. Marriages, births, deaths, family vacations and wacky anectdotes about the time the ferret ruined the Tupperware party or the latest updates on Aunt Shirley's corns ... these are things that contemporary fiction is just not delivering.
by Levi Asher December 2nd, 2005 7:22am
Alice Walker's 1983 novel The Color Purple is now a Broadway musical. The New York Times gave it a respectful but unenthusiastic review this morning, praising the lush pleasures of the production but complaining that the plot was lost in the frenetic pace.
by Levi Asher December 2nd, 2005 7:38am
Bookslut reports that Beverly Cleary's Ramona series is going to be turned into a movie. Cleary was probably my #1 favorite writer as a kid, and I still consider Ramona the Pest one of the most compelling and memorable kid's books ever written. My favorite part is the chilling Halloween scene where Ramona puts on a witch's mask and then freaks out because nobody can tell who she is (identity theory for ten year olds). I also love the part where she learns to turn the letter Q into a drawing of a cat.
by Levi Asher December 4th, 2005 8:30pm
Today's issue of the New York Times Book Review calls to mind the quantitative analyses of the editorial composition of a typical Book Review issue performed by Edward Champion last May, and Michael Orthofer of the Literary Saloon a couple of weeks ago.
by kelasher December 5th, 2005 1:04pm
I am a major, major Pride and Prejudice dork.
Along with several of my librarian dork friends, I once even had a Pride and Prejudice party with tea sandwiches and a viewing of our favorite parts of the excellent 1995 television version produced by BBC and A&E. My friend Melinda and I can recite passages verbatim from the book at each other. Very sad.
by Levi Asher December 6th, 2005 12:33pm
Along with several of my librarian dork friends, I once even had a Pride and Prejudice party with tea sandwiches and a viewing of our favorite parts of the excellent 1995 television version produced by BBC and A&E. My friend Melinda and I can recite passages verbatim from the book at each other. Very sad.
The writings of Donald Goines, an African-American author from Detroit who was murdered in 1974, were at the center of a heated court case in Brooklyn, New York that ended in a not-guilty verdict last week.
by Levi Asher December 7th, 2005 8:58am
1. If you're anywhere near New York this Sunday, drop by the Bowery Poetry Club for a David Amram jazz poetry event titled Ode to the Sidewalks of New York. David Amram is, in my opinion, a national treasure.
by Caryn Thurman December 8th, 2005 5:29am
When you think of poetry and basketball, images of a sweet layup or an at-the-buzzer, tie-breaking jump shot probably come to mind. That might change now that Urban Word NYC and the New York Knicks have collaborated to create a series of workshops and poetry slams.
by Levi Asher December 8th, 2005 1:34pm
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I've read several reactions to Harold Pinter's aggressive Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and I get the feeling I'm the only one here who actually knows Pinter's work.
by Levi Asher December 11th, 2005 7:11am
Critic Caroline Alexander examines Canongate's impressive new series of commissioned books about mythology in today's New York Times Book Review. I've now spotted the first three entries in Canongate's series (Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad and Jeanette Winterson's Weight) arrayed proudly together in a bookstore, three beguiling sirens calling me into mankind's deep past.
by Bill Ectric December 12th, 2005 8:16am
Mary Shelley was born Mary Godwin in London, England on August 30, 1797 to remarkable parents. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist when feminism was almost unheard of, wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. Her father, William Godwin, a well-known critic of the British government and the founder of modern philosophical anarchism, wrote An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice in 1793. Sadly, eleven days after Mary was born, her mother died of puerperal fever, leaving William Godwin to raise Mary and her older half-sister, Fanny.
by Levi Asher December 12th, 2005 9:40am
Who knew that 60's-era Presidential semi-hopeful Eugene McCarthy was a practicing poet? I had no idea. I didn't know much about this maverick Senator from Minnesota, except that he apparently played the "Howard Dean role" in the 1968 Presidential election. He represented Americans who vigorously objected to the Vietnam War, caused a lot of ruckus, didn't even come close to winning the Democratic Party nomination, and watched his party lose the election from the sidelines.
by Jamelah Earle December 12th, 2005 7:46pm
Lately, the review copies have been piling up here, which works pretty well for me, because I never have to wonder what I'm going to read. From the small press/indie part of the publishing world (which we at LitKicks love), here are two new poetry picks that have caught my eye.
Shabby Epiphanies by SJ Grady
Shabby Epiphanies takes its title from the eponymous poem that says
Among the secular priesthood
of our sexy new religion
worship must be sensual
by Levi Asher December 13th, 2005 8:57pm
Shabby Epiphanies by SJ Grady
Shabby Epiphanies takes its title from the eponymous poem that says
Among the secular priesthood
of our sexy new religion
worship must be sensual
A courtroom trial is, in semiotic terms, the creation of a literary text. And a text of great import: a human being stands before his or her peers and faces up to society's moral judgement. The entire procedure is carried out as an exchange of words, which are recorded for posterity. It's a fascinating process, and some notable texts are being written right now.
by Levi Asher December 15th, 2005 8:06am
1. The Syntax of Things Underrated Writers project is a really generous and useful offering. Personally, I feel terrible because I was invited to participate but chose to procrastinate instead. If I had responded, I think I would have duplicated Rake's nomination for J. Robert Lennon, who I was raving about recently in these pages.
by Levi Asher December 16th, 2005 2:26pm
Here are a few new indie publications you might enjoy:
A Voice Above the Din by Steven Holbrook Hill
by Levi Asher December 18th, 2005 8:13pm
A Voice Above the Din by Steven Holbrook Hill
Today's New York Times Book Review features an amusing endpaper by Pamela Paul about authors who compulsively check what bloggers are saying about them, and a few authors (such as Amy Tan) who refuse to do so. Paul's article is well-written, though she doesn't seem to be aware of the term for this activity: "ego-surfing". It's not just famous writers who do it; bloggers ego-surf each other more than anyone else.
by Levi Asher December 19th, 2005 6:45am
There are iambs to be found, and even some pentameter, in Edward Champion's verse updating of a Sophocles classic, inspired by a recent news story. Click on the "hot pink tank top" link within the verses to make sense of it all.
Regarding the verses: pretty good work. Regarding the story: damn ...
by Caryn Thurman December 19th, 2005 8:28am
Regarding the verses: pretty good work. Regarding the story: damn ...
Don't say we didn't try to help you in your holiday gift giving this year ...
by Caryn Thurman December 19th, 2005 12:16pm
This morning we received word that artist, Beat photographer and friend of LitKicks Graham Seidman has passed away. Graham was an accomplished photographer who was always reinventing ways to use his talents in new formats and to raise awareness. You can view some of his work here.
by Levi Asher December 20th, 2005 7:28am
New York Times public editor Byron Calame wrote about accusations of favoritism and personal bias in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday.
by Caryn Thurman December 20th, 2005 9:39am
Here at LitKicks we're big fans of spoken word and recordings of poetry readings of all shapes and sizes. When poetry (and prose, from time to time) jumps from the page into the air on voices of poets themselves -- whether they're behind a microphone in a recording studio, on a stage in a club or on the street preaching poetic harmony -- hearing definitely is believing. Here are just a few new audio selections that have captured our attention over the past year:
by Caryn Thurman December 22nd, 2005 12:04pm
U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser is writing a series of columns that highlights poetry and its importance in everyday life. From time to time we'll share the reprinted columns here, and provide you a chance to add your comments. This simple piece by Nancy McCleery seemed like a nice offering to leave as I begin my own holiday vacation. Feel free to share your December notes here as well as your thoughts on this selection.)
American Life in Poetry: Column 039
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
by Levi Asher December 22nd, 2005 12:27pm
American Life in Poetry: Column 039
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Okay, so it's not the Man Blooker prize ... it's just the Blooker Prize, a new annual award for blog-based books, and LitKicks' Action Poetry: Literary Tribes for the Internet Age is in the running.