There is only one way to defeat the enemy, and that is to write as well as one can. The best argument is an undeniably good book.
-Saul Bellow (1915-2005) [He opened our iron curtain universe a little more. We owe him everything]
Oprah’s version of Balsam Fir Soap - Massive giveaway: Ok, this is a shameless plug, I will admit it. If such things turn you off. Read no further ... There are two kinds of readers in the world: those who know that Jozef Imrich is the sole survivor of the Iron Curtain crossing and those who haven’t read Strictly Iron Curtain yet. If you enjoy reading nonfiction, you might enjoy my book ;-P Boy from Poprad: Second Life Teaches Better Life Lessons
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Words can Hurt as well as Heal
Stick any two postcards to a wall and you've got a narrative.
Unedited.
-Iain Sinclair and Dave McKean, Slow Chocolate Autopsy
Imagine you're a house painter, and you're applying for a job. Now imagine that your competition for the job includes not only your contemporaries, but every house painter who ever walked the earth.
That's probably what it feels like to be a novelist today.
Naughty but nice Lord Berners, wrote in his First Childhood:I have always taken an almost intoxicating delight in 'perilous laughter,' that is to say laughter which, either from good manners or fear, has to be controlled at all costs. The kind of laughter which, on solemn occasions or in the presence of the great, sometimes wells up within one with such violence that the human frame is nearly shattered in the course of its suppression.
• That's probably what it feels like to be a writer today [The power of lit blogs is both collective and singular. They should join forces to battle the pimps of the stale, sure, but they need to remember the eternal draw, too: a cranky individual with smart idiosyncratic tastes and a good bullshit detector. I'm thrilled they are out there and, for the most part, kicking ass A Sam Lipsyte appreciation featuring Home Land ; About Golden Rule Jones ]
• · Literary Blogs at your fingertips ; Hunter S. T. cashed in his chips. This got me to thinking about his work and enjoying his blasts of certitude and vision over the repugnant, vaseline quips of cultural hacks Blog Academy Awards ; It's like the 60s but without all the sex LITBLOG CO-OP ; An Entrepreneurial Proposal I've written the best manuscript I could--having only recently finished a year of revisions with my agent
• · · My wife and I discussed at some length how to credit the piece -- should I credit it to "Outer Life," maintaining my anonymity, or should I proudly plaster my real name on my first piece of published writing for all the world to see, taking a chance that someone would trace it back to Outer Life? Outer Life: A Farewell to Golf ; A new Australian movie Three Dollars is based on Elliot Perlman's best-selling novel, the movie stars Wenham, Wynter and Frances O'Connor. Because of his Czech connection I tend to finish Elliot’s books within a week. The last book I read Seven Types of Ambiguity was a novel about a kidnapping and the only unambiguous thing in this B/bohemian story was sex: Her breasts were . . . unambiguous. My friend, Alex Klima, the Jewish Czech psychiatrist, sees most of the (male) characters; as if all a man needs is a shrink and a whore! Anyway, hard copy of the Last which I pinched at the Art Gallery today has a very thoughtful review of the movie by some Eastern European Irina Markovsky. [Note to the editor of Last magazine -Jason Walker - please include a date on the front cover of the magazine - The copy I have has picture of that naughty but nice Brian McFadden on it] "Three Dollars" looks at the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of family in dealing with life's hardships when a well educated family who are in supposedly safe jobs, find themselves through a series of unexpected incidents, in a financial crisis. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming: They are down to their last three dollars!
• · · · The Financial Times looks at the current state of business book publishing. "There has been a flight to the tried and true." Jack Covert, who runs 800-CEO-READ, predicts: "The new business book is not about how to run a company. It is about how to look at the world differently." Be Different: Avoiding Crowd Mentality - Business Book Trends ; Many now expect the return of their awaited Teacher, whether they call him the Christ, Messiah, the fifth Buddha, Krishna, or the Imam Mahdi. Millions now know that the Teacher who fulfills all these expectations is already living among us. Soon, now very soon, you will see my face and hear my words ;-D Exactly Where, Under Which Religious Radar?
• · · · · Amazon Guru: I am Harriet Klausner; Speaking of Amazon, my former boss and the Chair of the NSW Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has written a book. [The title of the book is Top Secret] However, I hope to blog about his latest adventure in more details when the editting process is finished, but in the meantime read his deep thoughts on the English language: Public language is not decaying under a death sentence; Other Speeches by Andrew Tink ; Google: Andrew Tink
• · · · · · Up the Lazy River by Louis Armstrong: If a hall of fame were established for contemporary book reviewers—well, why not? Farewell, Hitch ; Good books, not perfect just good, help make a civil society Dana Gioia: Why Books Matter