TiVo Alert: Cormac McCarthy is on Oprah tomorrow. Govern yourself accordingly. I think that she announces her next book club selection on Friday. The rumor mill says (OK, the one person who offered me an opinion) that Kavalier and Clay will get the nod.
The favorite author of lit-bloggers everywhere, Sheila Kohler, didn’t really mean to imply that you are an idiot undeserving of an opinion.
Way off topic but interesting all the same: A few months back I wrote a glowing review of the non-fiction book, The Ghost Map. It is about a revolutionary moment in the field of public health and the future of cities. Famously, a map of cholera cases in London leads investigators to the culprit, a public water well. The pump handle was removed, and modern public health practices were born. I mention it because I was recently introduced to an outstanding blog, The Pump Handle. They even have the “ghost map” as their header. Unlike this operation, the Handle’s writers are well reagrded professionals in their field. If this sort of thing is interesting to you at all, check out some fascinating posts:
- Get the public health professionals’ take on the knucklehead with TB
- One reason why microwave popcorn is really, really bad
- Another reason why microwave popcorn is really, really bad
- Posts on the activities of the Occupational Health & Safety Adminsitration (OSHA) are a nice microcosm of the Bush legacy. (Check this post out as a good example.)
June 4th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
blech - Oprah and Cormac. Poor man.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Agreed. Yet I came home and set my TiVo. We’ll see how it goes…
June 5th, 2007 at 4:49 am
I missed it. You know, I was secretly hoping he’d pull out at the last minute. I like the fact that he’s only given 2 (?) interviews his entire life. I thought it was hilarious that the last one he gave he refused to talk about writing, and the journo turned it into a piece of ‘woe is me the poor journo schmuck who can’t get a story.” Being on Oprah just seems so public, so…. not Cormac.
But then again, he’s older. He’s changed. I’ll have to wait until someone puts it on You Tube.
June 5th, 2007 at 7:23 am
It hasn’t happened yet. It is later this afternoon.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:34 am
it’s chabon. i’m serious.
i have insider knowledge aka my desire to snark it up when she picks the pick.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Thanks, Rumor Mill. Is there a way that we can bet on this in Vegas like the British bet on the Booker Prize winner each year?
June 5th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Thank you DJ. My date-o-meter was momentarily frozen.
June 5th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
According to the “Shortlist” email I just got from Borders, Oprah’s next selection is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I saw that news elsewhere as well. It seems the Rumor Mill has let us down. On the other hand, Middlesex is a tremendous book.