Clippings 13: good stuff to read online

Since I didn’t get any writing done today but it’s only Monday, I am still saying: hopefully this is going to be a productive writing week.  Friday will tell, eh?  One thing I am getting done is reading, so watch for another review shortly.  In the meantime, here are some other interesting items to read online:

Steven Millhauser had an excellent essay in the New York Times a few weeks ago (HT: Kate) on “The Ambition of the Short Story.”  Relative to the novel, that is.  Since I now have a novel as well as a few stories in progress (one thing at a time?  who, me?), this made me smile — and gulp.

I mentioned that I met a poet at AAR in Chicago two weeks ago.  Courtesy of Google Books, you, too, can “meet” Judith Roche through her Wisdom of the Body, a poetic meditation on physicality that won the 2007 American Book Award.  Look up “Credo” and learn to think outside your categories (it’s poetry, remember).  I, too, believe in all of the alphabets, and that art saves lives…

And I have a new way to hound you about reading Mischa Berlinski’s Fieldwork (which started with my review). DailyLit, which I have recommended here on more than one occasion, has been adding new books  — including the one I’ve been talking about all year!  Read Fieldwork in 148 installments sent directly to your inbox on whatever schedule you choose; the first 5 installments are free, and if you like the format you can get the rest for $6.95.  (Sign up for a classic, too, most of which are completely free.)  Let me know if you do this — so I can rope you into talking about the book!  Have I mentioned how amazing it is?

And finally, I received last week my first “Persephone Biannually” (Autumn & Winter 2008/9) with the complete Persephone Books catalogue (the spelling is only fair, as they are located in London), and now I want to make lots of shelf space for these gorgeous books!  A fellow blogger (I can’t remember whom, but probably several of you) turned me on to this publisher that specializes in reprinting (with extraordinary taste) neglected books written mainly by women in the early to mid-twentieth century.   Several titles have now mysteriously appeared on my Christmas list, and, I suspect, will appears on yours, too, if you spend a few minutes browsing.  And in keeping with the theme of this post, they even have a sample of their audiobook Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (you’ll find the link at the homepage just above the “Letter” box).  Always accomodating, those Brits.

Enjoy!

17. November 2008 by Mindy
Categories: Clippings, Resources | 4 comments

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