Oxford Comma Redux

Say it isn’t so!  The oxford comma has apparently been abandoned by — wait for it — Oxford University.  A university style guide says, that writers should avoid the oxford comma“as a general rule.” This news resulted in the following Twitter outbursts:

That’s about all I have to say on the subject.  Add your views to #oxfordcomma(s) or in the comments.  Music, please:

Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma

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See a Little Light

I felt compelled to check out Bob Mould’s See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody.  First, I’m a big fan of his music.  Second, the last time I had read about Mould was in Michael Azerrad’s seminal underground rock history tome, Our Band Could be Your Life (My review).  As BGB’s Shaft pointed out specifically in his review of the book, Bob Mould does not come off in a very positive light in Azerrad’s telling.  Imagine my surprise then to learn that See a Little Light was co-written with none other than Michael Azerrad.  What gives?

Our Band Could be Your Life focused almost exclusively on Bob Mould’s time with indie rock pioneers Hüsker Dü.  However, Hüsker Dü occupied only about eight years of the life of a man now in his fifties.  The lion’s share of See a Little Light, accordingly, is about all the other aspects of Mould’s life.   He is also keen to squash any and all hopes of a Hüsker Dü reunion.  Ever.

If you have an original ticket stub dated 1979-87, you saw Hüsker Dü.  If not, you missed out.

See A Little Light goes back and explores Mould’s childhood and gives more backstory on where Hüsker Dü came from, works through the Hüsker Dü years, and then dives into the years that followed, which includes everything since 1988.  It turns out that quite a bit has happened in Mould’s life, professionally and personally, since then.  He’s performed all over the world as a solo performer, formed a new band (Sugar) that outsold the band he’s ostensibly most known for, branched out in new musical directions, worked as a scriptwriter for WCW Wrestling (!),  and found a way to be happy in his personal life.  He’s had drug ans alcohol problems and found his way clean.

Much of the latter part of the book involves Mould’s coming to grips with being a gay man and deciding to finally live his life openly and in a way that makes him happy.  Sadly, this realization does not come until much later in his life than for most.  A theme that runs throughout the book is how uncomfortable Mould has been within his own skin, worrying about the acceptance of others – of being found out and losing everything that he had worked for.  Occasionally Mould’s fears sound irrational to the straight ear, but then the reader is reminded of the story that he tells early on about a gay teen getting beaten to death in his home town.

The book also serves up a steady diet of tour stories and lengthy discussion on albums being made.  I love that kind of stuff, but it may not be for everyone.   At the beginning of the book, there were sections where I couldn’t believe Mould’s arrogance.  I was sure that See a Little Light would paint a similar picture of the aging rocker that Michael Azerrad portrayed in Our Band Could be Your Life.  By the end, somehow, Bob Mould completely wins over the reader on his own terms.

Mould’s biggest accomplishments with this book may be getting the average straight male indie rock fan to read and experience a gay man’s story of coming out and finding joy in his life.  I finished reading See a Little Light on the evening that New York’s Senate cast its historic vote to legalize gay marriage.  It seemed fitting.  I was happy for the implications for several people in my life, and I was happy for Bob Mould.

Audio Bonus:

The first Hüsker Dü song I ever heard was the title song on the album New Day Rising.  The entirety of the lyrics are “new day rising” repeated over a bed of howling guitars, driving drums, and visceral howls.   The repetition and conviction of the lyrics – a mantra – sold me on the idea that a new day was in fact rising.  This was 1984.   This is what rage and melody sound like.  

Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising

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Bob Mould’s first solo album Workbook was an impressive effort from beginning to end.  The opening instrumental track served notice that Mould was breaking new ground.

Bob Mould – Sun Spots

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This is the track from the same album that gave the book its name:

Bob Mould – See a Little Light

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Lucky Peach

I got my hands on Lucky Peach yesterday afternoon.  It’s the new food magazine put out by Momofuku’s David Chang and McSweeney’s. I’ve never been to Momofuku, but I make attempts to cook things in Chang’s cookbook.  I’m loving Chang’s appearances on Treme, and McSweeney’s has been on a do-no-wrong streak.  The mag just jumped into my mitts.  The cashier took it to ring me up, looked at the cover, did a spit take, and then said, “what am i looking at?” (That’s more than 1 chicken.)

I’m not a big food magazine reader, but Lucky Peach is not your typical food magazine. It’s got food inspired art, a short story, food history, John T Edge, Anthony Bourdain, and on and on. Oh, and some recipes.  This issue is dedicated to ramen.  There are no ads for kitchen stuff or anything else. It looks to be pretty remarkable from the little I’ve been able to read through so far. There is a good chance that I’ll read this cover-to-cover.  I’ve never done that with a food magazine and very rarely with any other kind of magazine.

Friday Links?

Mark Twain stamps coming in the fall – yes, please

It also makes me want to buy one of these:

The title of this post says it all:  Literary Karaoke?  Hell, Yes!

The Millions review the bestselling On the Road iPad app.

Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman are working on a show for HBO

Read aloud dad shares tips to get kids excited about reading

13 Worst Books to Read on the Beach

Writers on their best holiday reads

I missed Patti Smith on Law & Order!

The Pottermore scoop

Essential books for Young Adults

This book has jumped onto my to read pile

Business Journalism for Dummmies

So you’ve been assigned to write a four paragraph business article about a publishing trade show.  Naturally, the big questions you have to ask yourself are “how little research can I do” and  ”how many people can I piss off” in that little space.  Think big.  If you do it correctly, a commenter will be forced to observe, “There’s so much…wrong about this article I don’t know where to start, so I’ll just close my eyes and point at the screen.”

Begin by clearing your head.  A few scotches at the hotel bar should do the trick.  Picture the most superficial impressions of your time at Book Expo America.  Got it?  It’s time to write.   You’ll probably want to start by making an offhand  judgement of all children’s books.

I have nothing against children’s books, but when all of them seem to participate in a contest of garishness for the most outrageous combination of colors, the esthetic model that is being set up is accountable for the bad taste of generations.

Nice start.  Nothing good ever follows a “but.”  Next, you’ll want to make an unsubstantaited statement about what is “widely known.” Something like this:

…the publication of serious literature, and particularly of literary fiction, has been abandoned…

Yep.  That’ll do.  Alright, now in your third paragraph you’ll want to sound coherent, but use exclamation marks to ensure the reader knows what’s important!   Now it’s time to blindside the readers with your grand finale.  You’ll want to conclude with a sweeping indictment of all that you don’t understand.  Start with gross and distorted generalizations about book blogs that conflates everything that you’ve ever halfway heard about books, blogs, and the death of criticism into a few sentences:

Book blogging has become a subculture whose members are mostly women between 20 and 50 years old, often known as “mommy bloggers” because they are housewives who blog about romance novels, horror/vampire stories and paranormal novels. Many of them have hundreds of followers on Twitter, and the result is that they have the power to establish new trends… And the publishing industry has started to take them seriously.

Awesome!  And it’s true, yall!  Now denigrate young women AND belittle technology WHILE flaunting your ignorance:

At the Book Bloggers reception I met many girls in their early twenties who already have hundreds of followers on Twitter. As far as I could tell, I was the only person at the convention who doesn’t tweet.

Trifecta!  And then finish with a crescendo of babble that makes little sense.  Excellent.  Now find a graphic that will add insult to injury.  Is your editor drunk or otherwise  asleep at the wheel?  File that story!  Your work here is done.  Nice job!

Swamplandia!

Karen Russell was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists (before she had written a novel) AND one of The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 list AND one of the 5 under 35 by the National Book Foundation.  That’s a lot of hype.  Despite the plaudits, I was on the fence about reading Russell’s new book and first novel Swamplandia! The novel takes place in South Florida and features a family-owned alligator wrestling attraction.   When I first read that description, I thought that I would do best to steer well clear of the book.   It sounded a little too wacky for wacky’s sake.  I lived in South Florida for a decade and have read my fair share of Karl Hiaassen. In the end I followed the hype, and it was the right choice.  Yes, that is an exclamation point in the title.

The Bigtree family owns and operates Swamplandia!, a tourist attraction nestled in the 10,000 Islands on the west coast of South Florida. The star performer, Hilola Bigtree, is featured on billboards up and down I-75 that feature the signature act at the park:

Four times a week, our mother climbed the ladder above the Gator Pit in a green two-piece bathing suit and stood on the edge of the diving board, breathing.  If it was windy, her long hair flew around her face, but the rest of her stayed motionless…Her shoulder blades pinched back before she dove.

The Bigtree family becomes unmoored when they lose their mother, wife, and main draw to illness.   Their audience begins to dwindle even before the specter of new competition arises in the form of a mainland theme park ominously called “The World of Darkness.”  The father of the Bigtree clan, known even to his children as “Chief”, disappears for weeks at a time to discuss financial opportunities with potential investors.  The three children, already nearly feral, each undertake their own adventures as their island garden idyll rapidly becomes a faded image of its former glory.

Largely on their own, the children leave their Eden and find their own versions of Hell.  Hell is, of course, the real world.   The children had grown up in an insular world complete with elaborate family myths.  The Bigtree museum in Swamplandia was constantly updated and arranged to fall in line with Chief Bigtree’s inner narrative of who the family really were – or ought to be.  The Bigtree’s, for example, are not even Native Americans:

Although there was not a drop of Seminole or Miccosukee blood in us, the Chief always costumed us in tribal apparel for the photographs he took.  He said we were “our own Indians.”

Swamplandia! is a coming of age story not only for the Bigtree children, but also for Chief Bigtree.  In many ways, it can be read as an allegory for the growing pains of the State of Florida itself.  Swamplandia! is a disarmingly charming novel that packs a big punch.   I am looking forward to checking out Karen Russell’s reading at the Decatur Book Festival.

Behold!

The 2011 Decatur Book Festival poster has been revealed.  This year, Bookzilla is taking time out to work on his memoirs.  Click on the pic for to see a larger version and see how many fun details you can pick up (you’ll need to click twice to get the huge version for some reason).   Decatur residents may be concerned to see that the Decatur Square gazebo is on fire.  Music fans, please not The Decemberists new album on Bookzilla’s iPod and R.E.M.’s Monster on the shelf.  The books scattered around highlight some of the authors appearing at this year’s fest.  Check it out.

Friday Links: DBF Edition + Book Giveaway

Last night was the kickoff party for the 2011 Decatur Book Festival.  There will be plenty more details to come (I tend to obsess over the fest all summer), but here are some of the highlights of this year’s festival:

• Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) and his wife Carson Ellis will be the key note speakers.  They collaborated on a new book, Wildwood, that will be released just a few days before the festival.  I was so excited by this news that I had to give Executive Director Terra McVoy a high five. True story.
• The Atlanta Opera will be presenting scenes from their upcoming commissioned opera based on the Br’er Rabbit stories.
• Tom Key and The Theatrical Outfit will present scenes from a work in progress – a stage adaptation of Eudora Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter with original music
• Some of the  announced novelists that I am especially excited to check out include: Chris Adrian (The Children’s Hospital, The Great Night), Karen Russell (Swamplandia!), George Pelecanos (The Night Gardener), Tom Perrotta (Election, Little Children),  Thomas Mullen (The Revisionists), and Adam Ross (Mr. Peanut).  Check out the full announced list and govern your summer reading accordingly

How awesome is this book festival?  It got a recent shout out from Oprah (magazine).  Tons of awesomeness coming our way.  Stay tuned for more.

Speaking of awesome, BGB friend Todd Moye is presenting his book Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II at the 2011 Roosevelt reading Festival.   You can watch Todd read on C-Span (!) at 10:00 tomorrow morning.

Awesome things we just learned about Uncle Tom’s Cabin

What your favorite author says about you (if your favorite author is one of the five listed)

At long last, the fabled Moneyball movie appears to be working its way to theaters.  Check out the trailer.

Patti Smith reads on the audiobook version of Just Kids.  Check out an excerpt.

The Guardian compiles a list of the 100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books

J.K. Rowling has created this mysterious web site.  What does it mean?

Speaking of mysterious, Atlanta is in the throes of a literary mystery that includes $10 bills.

Reading to the bottom bonus: Somehow, I have come into possession of numerous copies of Chris Adrian’s The Great Night.  Adrian will be reading at this summer’s Decatur Book Festival, so this is your chance to prepare for his reading on the cheap.  If you’d like a FREE copy of The Great Night, leave a comment and I will pick three (3) winners – two unread hard covers and a gently used paperback ARC.  Check out this review for a good sense of the novel.  My review is coming soon.

Happy Bloomsday

Today is Bloomsday, the annual celebration of the life of James Joyce and his novel Ulyssses, which takes place over the course of a single June 16th. The novel was jokingly summarized by Russ Marshalek on Twitter this morning thusly: “dude walks around for like a billion pages and poops.”

On the other end of the appreciation spectrum perhaps is the author Frank Delaney. Perhaps the ultimate Joyce aficionado, Delaney has undertaken to complete a line-by-line deconstruction of the novel by podcast. Each podcast tackles a single line of the novel. Today marks the first anniversary of the podcast. By the author’s reckoning, he has another 19 years to go. Delaney has also put together a Joyce appreciation “rap” (to use the term very loosely):
 

 
And McSweeney’s has “Feedback From James Joyce’s Submission Of ‘Ulysses’ To His Creative Writing Workshop.”

The Novel as HBO

Salman Rushdie announced last week that he is creating a reality-based sci-fi drama series for US cable Showtime, because he believes that “quality TV drama has taken over from film and the novel as the best way of widely communicating ideas and stories.”  It is interesting to see someone of Rushdie’s stature take this position. The idea might seem blasphemous if so many critics hadn’t already been floating  the idea of the “HBO drama” (whatever channel it’s on) as literature.

A quick review of TV drama of recent vintage, suggests we may be in the midst of a golden age of televised story telling.The Wire has been compared to Dickens; The Sopranos were compared to Shakespeare.  David Simon’s Treme is celebrated “for showing how artists make art, and what it actually means to make a living from creative work.”  Mad Men, Six Feet Under – the list goes on.

A recent surprise for me has been the dramatization of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice Fire, Game of Thrones. I have not read any of the novels in the series and have had my viewer’s expectations  upended week after week.  Last week’s episode, Baelor, took such a dramatic turn that it prompted a discussion between my wife and I titled What Happens when Every Accepted Fantasy Story-Telling Trope is Thrown out the Window.   This piece in Grantland nicely sums it up:

Because that’s what a generation of underbaked trilogies had taught us fantasy was all about, right? The good guys winning?…When [giant spoiler] in the final moments of last night’s shocking episode, a lot of our television preconceptions dropped with it.

But back to Rushdie.  Does his involvement in television signal yet another round of “death of the novel” conversations/blog posts?  Probably.  Story telling seems to be doing just fine though.

Holy f***ing smokes

One charming @#~%*! children’s book!

(and it’s FREE)

(and now available for listening/forwarding as unexciting YouTube clip)

1, 2, 3 Sew

My friend, Ellen Baker, has been writing about and creating beautiful crafts and projects for children and adults on her blog The Long Thread for several years.  She recently became a contributor on another blog, Alpha Mom as well.  I’m not such a great crafter myself, but I love checking out what she comes up with as well as her links to other sites.  And I have definitely borrowed some of her ideas for hand made gifts, birthday celebrations, and simple holiday decorations.

Over the last year or two, Ellen has taken that blog thing to the next level and written a book.  It’s called 1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills With 33 Simple Projects, and it’s beautiful!  I have watched the progress of her book on The Long Thread and am very excited that it’s ready to go.  In fact, I have already purchased my copy and picked up an extra for Grammy (who actually can sew).  Check out the blog and the book trailer.  It’s wonderful.  And then go ahead a get your own copy of 1,2,3 Sew.  It’s pretty inspiring.

Friday Links

Last week The Wall Street Journal ran a ridiculous article about the “depravity” of today’s Young Adult literature.   A week of wailing and gnashing of keyboards ensued throughout the blogosphere.  Finally, Sherman Alexie arrives to set the record straight.  Must read.

Wunderkind Téa Obreht has won the Orange Prize for literature for her book The Tiger’s Wife.  At 25(!), she’s the youngest winner in the award’s history.  This is the motivation I need to get off my ass and write the glowing review I’ve been planning for weeks.  In my head.

Sebastian Junger to give up frontline reporting

ESPN rolled out Bill Simmons’s new site Grantland, dedicated to writing on sports and pop culture.  The site features an ode to Wrigley Field by Dave Eggers and Chuck Klosterman on a great but forgotten basketball game.  Read ‘em both.

Heh.  Conservative Christians role out an attack ad against GOP Ayn Rand fans.

McSweeney’s children’s books coming to a cool kid near you

Lists:

• Top 10 Summer Reading lists for kids and adults
• What they’re reading this summer at the NYT Book Review
• Must read summer books
• Top Ten Pirate Books – arrrrrrr
• 10 most powerful women authors
• 10 disturbing novels
• wait!  10 more disturbing novels!

Roald Dahl: Kind of a jerk

Books you can expect to see at Urban Outfitter’s

Where your favorite publisher ranks on Twitter

Speaking of…I was reminded last night that I have been sitting on a BGB Twitter account for two years when a friend let me know that it had been hacked.  Well, I fixed that, cleaned things up a bit, and we’re open for business @babygotbooks.  Watch the train wreck unfold…in real time.

John Kennedy Toole: the omega point

Stop whatever you’re doing and check out this documentary about John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces.  It’s apparently a work in progress.  I can’t wait to check out the final version.  Now, go check it out.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you look like a monkey….

As Grammy recently quoted from someone else, “The days are long, but the years fly by.”   Well, another year has flown by for BGB’s fearless leader.  How better to begin the day’s celebration than with some books?  As much as I like the idea of birthdays and the excitement birthdays hold for most kids and many adults, I don’t have many actual birthday books in my collection.  So, here are the titles of some that I own, some that I’ve only read but do not have, and some that I want to run out a get right now.  Oh, and of course, the most fun books are picture books…

Happy Birthday to You by Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday to You by Marianne Richmond

Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

A Birthday For Cow by Jan Thomas

Happy Birthday Mad Libs (!!)

The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle (about a boy named TIM!)

Happy Birthday Moon by Frank Asch

Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton

And to Tim, Happy Birthday, Little Pookie!

Bossypants

I’ve been a fan of Tina Fey’s since he first appearances behind the SNL Weekend Update desk and watch 30 Rock religiously.  When I saw the early reviews, I knew that I would need to check out Fey’s Bossypants.   It did not disappoint.  Someone get this woman her own TV show.  Oh, wait…

Some reviewers seemed put out that the book is not as revealing as they’ve apparently come to expect from celebrity memoirs.   But Bossypants isn’t really a memoir.  It’s a collection of humorous essays about experiences in her life.  Think female David Sedaris and you won’t be far off.  Fey mentions her scar and explains why she won’t talk about it.  She says that there was the occasional jerk hosting SNL, but she doesn’t feel the need to name names. Good for her.  What’s left are some hilarious glimpses into the unexpected celebrity life of a self-described nerd with David Foster Wallace references and fart jokes.

Fey does not shy away from describing the ingrained misogyny of comedy – something that she hopes has changed.  As a performer in Chicago’s Second City, it was understood that NO ONE wanted to see two women alone in a sketch together.  That’s not how comedy works! Fey offers her and Amy Poehler’s classic SNL skit as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton as Exhibit A of the fallacy of this idea.  She also wonders if the old sexism isn’t behind the personal attacks she received for portraying the reality TV star while her male counterparts eviscerate other politicians with little fallout.  (Have you seen Will Ferrell’s George Bush?)  Maybe. Or maybe it upset some so much because it was so believable.  (See: This.)

Fey seems surprised that Bossypants would be read by men.  On purpose.  In one passage she describes the relative “quease-making” of sticking a contact lens in your eye by relating it to a rather graphic gynecological experience and a breast self-exam.   Then she clarifies the comparison for those of us who may not get these references:

If you are male, I would liken it to touching your own eyeball, and thank you for buying this book.

No, thank you, Tina!

Fridays Links and Such

Lists o’ plenty:

• 10 books that will fry your brain this summer
• 10 essential books for thought-provoking summer reading
• NPR’s summer “high-fliers”
• Crime fiction picks for summertime suspense
• Esquire’s 75 books all men should read
• And the response by Joyland: 250 books by women that all men should read

And, of course, how to create your own summer reading list

The winners of the 2011 MobyAwards for the best and worst book trailers is worth checking out

Dave Eggers gets his name on a t-shirt at Novel-T’s and is the first living writer to join the team.  Or something.

I may have to get an e-reader so I can buy one of the faux classic covers for it

Where are the women in sci-fi?

Check out the trailer for Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun

Weird cover of the week:  the Swedish version of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals (via Bokhora):

Also…

I’m still catching up from the long weekend.  Two more things that you may have missed (if you were like me):

Poet/singer Gil Scott-Heron passed away on Sunday.  I’ve been checking out his powerful The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and wondering what the 2011 equivalent would be?

In other completely unrelated news, I am featured in this month’s issue of Atlanta INtown newspaper.   Checking it out in a non-paper format is tricky, but you can go here and scroll on over to page 36′s Blogging Atlanta section. I‘m interviewed on behalf of BGB by Collin Kelly.  (Thanks, Collin!)   There are two minor factual errors in the interview.  See if you can guess which two they are.