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March 4, 2009
Shorties (T.C. Boyle, U2, and more)
NPR excerpts from and reviews T.C. Boyle's new Frank Lloyd Wright novel, The Women.
IGN ranks U2's studio albums from worst to best.
Encyclopaedia Metallum is an online resource for metal fans.
Amazon is offering a free Kindle app (iTunes store link) to read Kindle e-books on your iPhone.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reviews Philipp Meyer's debut novel, American Rust, as well as the hype behind the book.
Salon reviews Alan Moore's recently reissued graphic novel, Saga of the Swamp Thing.
Daytrotter's Wednesday session features in-studio mp3s from Princeton.
The New Haven Advocate profiles Winterpills.
Winterpills aren't the sort of band that plays all their cards before the first chorus. Their songs may start simply, with acoustic guitar or piano and vocals, then build into a shimmering full-band sound with galloping drums and echoed-out electric guitar — or they may start out with all cylinders firing, then abruptly scale down to a delicate vocal harmony between guitarist Philip Price and keyboardist Flora Reed. Whichever way they play it, these dynamics throw all the elements of the song into relief, producing a similar effect to coming up to the surface from underwater, or that moment when a fever breaks.
Little, Brown editor Michael Pietsch talks to the Los Angeles Times about editing David Foster Wallace's last novel, The Pale King.
"You do not change a word if someone's not there to argue with you or discuss it with you," he says.
What this means is that he has his work cut out for him. "It's not clear what the intended structure was," Pietsch admits, although Wallace left copious outlines and notes about "The Pale King" that he will use as guides. The published book "will just stop where it stops," and may include some of Wallace's notes and journals.
The New Yorker features unpublished David Foster Wallace short fiction, "Wiggle Room."
Author Michael Chabon share a journal entry with the New York Times' Paper Cuts blog.
Venus Zine has named its 25 under 25 women, including musicians Vivian Girls, Ida Maria, Adele and others.
The Northampton Valley Advocate interviews Jedediah Berry, author of the wonderful novel, The Manual of Detection.
To what extent did you feel conflict between literary concerns and the second-class status people have imposed on genre fiction?
It's something that seems to be loosening all the time. I think I'm lucky to have been preceded by writers who have taken genre tropes and really reinvented them and demonstrated that this stuff has value and can be used for new and interesting things. Writers like Kelly Link, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon have all tackled mysteries, science fiction and fantasy and have really been faithful to the storytelling traditions that come out of those genres but have also done something which I think is undeniably literary, because it requires a deep level of inquiry that lasts.
Read Berry's Largehearted Boy Book Notes music playlist for the book.
The Los Angeles Times has named the finalists for its 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.
LaundroMatinee features videos and mp3s from Blitzen Trapper's in-studio performance.
NPR excerpts from and reviews Janice Y.K. Lee's new novel, The Piano Teacher.
Today is the last day to enter the latest Largehearted Boy contest and win another copy of the 21-DVD Monty Python Collector's Edition Megaset.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make it into the daily "shorties" posts.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Online "best of 2008" music lists
Online "best of 2008" book lists
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie news
