novels
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You’re Jonathan Franzen or You’re Nobody
“I write because I’ve always wanted to know what bankruptcy feels like.” John Winters gives his sobering reaction to the hotly debated “MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction,” in his essay, “Why I Write: 2014 Edition.” He details…
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How to Scientifically Predict a Novel’s Success
It’s impossible to predict what will make a book sell well, but scientists at Stony Brook University think they might be on the right track. After conducting statistical analyses of novels from several genres, they were able to predict with…
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A Helpful Flowchart for All Aspiring Novelists
“Are you absolutely, positively, and wholeheartedly ready to publish your novel?” Then you’re gonna need this flowchart, created by Ryan Lewis and Anna Hurley for 826 National and highlighted by our co-owner Isaac Fitzgerald on Buzzfeed. It’ll help you figure…
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Lisa’s Book Round-Up
I recently discovered a fascinating cookbook: Rufus Estes’ Good Things To Eat. Written in 1911, this cookbook is the first ever written by an African-American chef. Born a slave, Estes triumphed over unimaginable odds to become one of Chicago’s finest…
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An Excuse to Read More Novels
Do you prefer order over ambiguity? Do you often find it necessary to come to definitive conclusions? According to a new study, your answer may have something to do with what you read.
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Percival Everett on Franzen, Sexism and The Great American Novel
“I do not believe that apparent authoritative literary voices of validation would ever make such a grand claim about a novel written by a woman. I say this because I believe there are many novels by women that are about…
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San Francisco’s History Wiki
“FoundSF is a wiki that invites history buffs, community leaders, and San Francisco citizens of all kinds to share their unique stories, images, and videos from past and present. There are over 1,800 articles here presenting primary sources, essays, and…
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The Long Haul #2: Brass Monkey
A year earlier, I’d celebrated my birthday with an all-night bash. The writing was going well, I went out dancing every night. Now I stared into snowy gloom and wondered what I’d been thinking.
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Infinite Genji
First it was Infinite Jest and now readers will be tackling the world’s oldest novel this summer, Tale Of Genji. I want someone to have a summer of The Recognitions next. Or Don Quixote or Crime And Punishment. Or maybe…
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THE BLURB #16: Hungrier, More Successful, a Bit Ruthless
A review of David Goodwillie’s American Subversive that veers off into some really important and complicated and basically unanswerable questions about literature, literary reviews, overstimulation, secret weapons, and 21st century life.
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The Unsettling Visions Of Thomas Disch
“Fantasy is not avoidable. The very act of writing fiction is a sin, a lie. One of Disch’s most haunting stories, ‘Getting Into Death,’ is about a writer (one who uses two pseudonyms, at least one of which Disch used…
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Celebrate The Anniversary Of A Wonderful Book
There is nothing quite like reading Little, Big, John Crowley’s epic and elegantly subtle fantasy novel about a New England family and their mystifying relationship with the Fairy World. In language and style and vision, in action that veers from…