The Literature of National Tragedy
Forty-two years ago this month, the President of the United States was shot to death in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses while motion picture and still photographers recorded the event. The assasination of John F. Kennedy remains unsolved, and a national disgrace.
The Warren Commission Report, the first and best known book regarding the assassination, was the result of a Congressional investigation into the events of November 1963 and served more to insult Americans than inform them. Very few believed the "lone gunman" and "magic bullet" theories proposed in the report.

Those who say there is no proof of a conspiracy are correct, and those who say the preponderance of evidence indicates that Oswald did not act alone also have a strong case. Those who want a decisive answer to the question of who killed John F. Kennedy 42 years ago will have to await new books -- and live with the disturbing thought that we still don't know. -- Jefferson Morley

Forty years after the fact, with the government still refusing to disclose crucial documents, books regarding the assasination are a never-ending industry. The Washington Post's Jefferson Morley surveys the JFK assasination scholarship to date and reviews the latest authors to enter the fray. Also read the transcript of his webchat with Post readers about the assassination and various theories and those who have written about it.

Great Literature Amid Illiteracy
An extraordinary piece by AP writer Emily Wagster Pettus exposes the south's dirty little secret: illiteracy.
The piece focuses on Mississippi, which has the nation's lowest literacy rate, yet an astonshing literary history. Quoting Mississipi authors past and present, Pettus tries to make sense of an entrenched malaise for which underfunding and racism are only partly responsible.
"This clash of literature and illiteracy is one of the great contradictions in a region filled with them. And it's particularly stark in Mississippi, where studies have found that 30 percent of adults can't read well enough to fill out a job application, the dropout rate is 40 percent and public schools rank near the bottom in nearly every category."
To try and combat the problem Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale has pledged $100 million to the Barksdale Reading Institute, to get children reading as early as preschool. Meanwhile, the housekeeper at the State Capitol, at age 59, still struggles to read fluently.

Library of Congress, Harvard Library Going Digital with Help from Google
The Library of Congress is launching an ambitious project called World Digital Library, "an online collection of rare books, manuscripts, maps, posters, stamps and other materials from its holdings and those of other national libraries that would be freely accessible for viewing by anyone, anywhere with Internet access," reports The Washington Post. Material in national libraries on five continents are to be included in the project, said James H. Billington, head of the Library of Congress. Google has pledged $3 million to the project. "To me, this is about preserving history and making it available to everyone," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Harvard University's libraries are going digital in partnership with Google's Book Search project, The New York Times reported yesterday. Harvard has more than 90 libraries, the digitizing of even the first 40,000 volumes seems daunting, but Google may have developed a new scanning technology that will enable them to meet their proposed deadline of six years.

Literary Review of Canada Lists Top 100

The editors of the Review listed not the 100 best books, but the 100 books that most impacted Canadian culture or most effectively reflected it, reports the Ottowa Citizen. Thus the list contains classics such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Howie Meeker's Hockey Basics (the sport is like a religion in Canada) alongside several governmental commission reports. The books are listed chronologically and span the 20th and 21st centuries.
Like many lists and rankings, glaring omissions are sometimes difficult to avoid. Michael Ondaatje, one of Canada's most respected authors, was accidentally left off the list, admitted Bronwyn Drainie, editor of the Review. "We ended up arguing quite passionately about whether it should be The English Patient or In The Skin of a Lion," she said. "We argued it back and forth so much that somehow, inadvertently, we argued him off the list!"
Get the list and give feedback here.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Composer?
Nineteenth-century Scottish writer and traveler Robert Louis Stevenson is remembered as the author of such classics as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island and the The Master of Ballantrae. Instead of living in Edinburgh, London, Paris or New York, Stevenson gave up 19th-century "civilization" to live in Samoa with his wife Fanny until he died. In addition to books, Stevenson wrote numerous short stories and travel and literary articles. Now, a recent discovery uncovered a talent previously unknown to present-day students fans and aficionados of the author, reports the Edinburgh Evening News
Members of the Stevenson Society were presented with a recording of the author's only known musical composition, a piece called Aberlady Links. Members of the society were more impressed with the novelty of the gift than the quality of the music. "if he had tried to be a composer, he would have starved to death," said one member.
Take a look at the Stevenson online exhibition here, which includes, pictures, manuscripts and personal articles. Check out the Stevenson Society of America. Get free online Stevenson e-texts here.

The Stiletto Lit Wars
You've seen them -- you've probably even bought one. Those nice trade paperbacks with a playful pink or or pastel cover, and a stylish girl or pair of stilettos somewhere in the cover art. The story is usually about a woman juggling career drama and and dating/love drama while running around between crises in stilettos shopping for designer clothes she can't really afford. It's Chick-Lit and it's a phenomenon.
Just as quickly as chick-lit has become a phenomeon, it has also become a lightning rod for criticism and derision from the literary establishment, feminists and men.
In The Australian, chick-lit author Melanie La'Brooy writes a detailed defense of the genre that is earning millions world-wide.
La'Brooy's spririted and well-argued defense of the genre doesn't quite address the severest (and most accurate) criticisms: that the genre is basically re-packaged romance novels for the Sex and the City set and that in view of the strides feminism has made in the past 40 years, the success of these novels is kind of disturbing.
Another point La'Brooy missed is that there is a metamorphosis occuring within the genre. Simon and Shuster's Downtown Press, which publishes nothing but Chick-lit, is publishing some startlingly new-fangled Chick-Lit which is combining thriller and crime elements into the genre.

Forbes lists Literary Tastemakers
Who knew that the chronicle of capitalism even knew there was such a thing as culture?
In a fit of um...madness(?) Forbes Magazine, that bastion of business journalism, has elected 10 contemporary writers as "Tastemakers," meaning, according to the introduction, that the writers not only display hefty sales but have taken the contemporary novel to new unexpected heights (or depths). Well, knock me over with a 100-dollar bill.
But wait! Lest you think the pinstriped pundits at Forbes have gone completely bohemian, they explain this literary lark by observing that books are big business in the U.S. "In fact, in 2004, Americans spent an estimated $8.8 billion on adult trade books, $3.1 billion on juvenile trade books, and $2.9 billion on mass-market paperbacks," they rejoice. And, they go one breathlessly, "U.S. consumers will spend nearly 5% more on books in 2005 than they did in 2004."
The list, which includes, Zadie Smith, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and Joan Didion, also crassly (and pointlessly) lists their sales figures for 2005 to date. Apparently the editors at Forbes need some kinds of numbers to pick their night-table reading by.

Cops and Robbers, Pimps and Liars

Tequila Blue by Rolo Diez ($13.95 Trade paper Bitter Lemon Press) Translated by Nick Caistor

Political and moral corruption never had it so good.

To paraphrase the subtitle, it's hard being a cop. Betwen the graft, the fencing of stolen goods, and the pimping, there's collecting payoffs, intimidating witnesses and indiscriminate sex. Then there are the wives, mistresses and children to factor in. Detective Carlos Fernandez of the Mexico City Police is only one man, but he tries to get everything done.

This stylish and funny hard-boiled yarn is a rollicking satire that moves at whiplash speed, with characters as vivid as blood spatter at a crime scene.

Fernandez's whole life is about the next peso -- and keeping his boss happy. Then an American with connections to a porn ring turns up dead in a hotel room and things get really interesting. Making money and getting to the bottom of the porn killings use up almost all of Fernandez' talents for lying, corruption, murder and sex, but just when you think he's up against it, he sinks lower and slithers out of another tight spot. But somehow, you can't hate him. And as you catch your breath at the end of this one, you'll shake your head and wonder what he will do next. But you cringe and laugh just thinking about it.

Filmmaker Uncovers the Truth about Rings vs. Narnia
They were Oxford professors, literary scholars and wrote multi-volume fantasy series that became legendary. C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, were also friends and bitter rivals, reports the Scotsman.
In researching an upcoming bio-documentary about C.S. Lewis, author of the seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia, Scottish director Norman Stone uncovered the famed friendship between the two authors was marked by bitter disagreements about everything from their books to their spouses. The documentary will debut in December just before the film version of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe hits theaters in the UK and the US Find out more about Lewis here.

Honey West Novels to be Reissued
Created in 1957 by husband and wife writing team Gloria and Forest Fickling, Honey West became the first hard-boiled dame detective in print. This Girl for Hire introduced this smart, long-legged investgator based in L.A. with a knack for catching bad guys and losing her clothes. Honey's career spanned eleven books and almost fifteen years, and included a short lived television series. Except for one or two of the titles, the books have been out of print for decades, until now. The Overlook Press will reissue the entire series, reports the Palm Beach Post.

Authors Guild Sues Google

When Google announced plans to put the contents of major libraries online, they neglected to ask for permission to put entire works online which are protected by U.S. copyright laws. CNN.com reports on the ensuing lawsuit.
Google Print the hot new search service, doesn't actually offer up the entire text of novels, but does search the text. If you're looking for a quote or a reference, within a book, Google Print will offer up the quote on the scanned page of the book, and offers a peak at a sample chapter, but if it's the whole book you're looking for, there are links to publishers and Amazon.com leading you to purchase the book. It's hard to see how authors are loosing money here, but maybe I'm missing something.
After months of negotiations with the Authors' Guild, Google agreed to allow writers to "opt-out" of having their works appear on the service. The solution sounded about as sound as an Enron balance sheet to the Authors' Guild, which filed suit against Google yesterday in New York, seeking an injunction against further printing of books online. Let's hope a judge can negotiate the survival of a great idea without bilking thousands of hard working writers of their hard earned money.

Tragedy in the Gulf States
Like the rest of the world, we are deeply saddened and infuriated by the disaster in the New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulfport in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Not only were these areas devastated by the relentless fury of Hurricane Katrina, they suffered dearly because of genocidal ineptitude by government agencies. Thankfully evacuations are almost complete, but the death toll will be in the thousands.
This disaster is an historic event which will have immediate economic and sociological impact throughout the country. We encourage you to give what you can to the Red Cross. You can give directly through your Amazon.com account with one-click here.
The culture, cuisine and music of the affected areas are gone indefinitely, but its literature lives on. Kate Chopin, William Faulkner, Tennesee Williams, Truman Capote, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Harper Lee, James Lee Burke and a host of other literary greats gave many of us an indelible picture of the American South Coast that will never be washed away.
Anne Rice, the contemporary writer most closely associated with New Orleans, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times this weekend that Louisiana's first literary magazine, L'alubum Litteraire, was published in 1840 by French-speaking Black men. Read Rice's comments on New Orleans culture here. Peruse fiction set in New Orleans.

A Literary Red Carpet
NBC has announced the launch of the annual Quills, an Oscar-type awards show dedicated to books where winners are chosen by the general public. The inaugural event, which promises an author-packed evening, will be broadcast on October 22 on NBC during prime time.
You can vote for nominees in categoreies such as best audiobook, general fiction, mystery/thriller, etc. until September 15.
The Boston Globe ruminates on whether the awards are relevant at all, since they seem to boost books and writers that are on the bestseller lists, ignoring lesser-known writers, but we say it's about time.

Malaysian British Writer took a Long Road to Printed Page
You may have heard of Tang Aw lately. His first book, The Harmony Silk Factory has just been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, the UK's most prestigious literary award. The beautifully rendered story of the mysterious and rakish Johnny Lim in 1940s Malaysia is being hailed by critics and readers alike, which is particularly satisfying for Aw, who spent five hard years writing it after leaving his family-approved career of law.
Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Aw was encouraged to read "on the assumption that you are going to go on and read lots of books that will make you interested in law or banking," he tells The Age of Australia.
After dutifully attending law school at Cambridge University, he tried to work odd jobs and write, but was struggling financially and artistically and decided to go be a lawyer. "I like the idea of law as an academic subject... The practice of law is something else completely; it's awful," says Aw.
Five years later he had socked away enough money to quit and write for a while but faced another considerable road block. He had no idea what he was doing. Aw enrolled in the creative writing program at the University of East Anglia, which boasts alums such as Ian McEwan and Kasuo Ishiguro. The program, where Aw started The Harmony Silk Factory, is not for the faint of heart (or the untalented, it seems). "It really is horrible," Aw says of his time in the program. "It's basically just workshops in which four people's work is discussed. That is handed out in advance and everyone has a week to tear it to pieces and that's what they do." Nevertheless, Aw is finally what always wanted to be.

This Fall's Heaviest Read
At 1360 pages and almost five pounds, Paul Anderson's Hunger's Brides can probably claim to be the biggest book of the season. Quite a feat for a first time novelist.
The story of a student who becomes obsessed with the legendary 17th-century poet and nun Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and her mysterious vow of silence (signed in blood) is called "an elaborately beautiful, intricately baroque game that has at its center this mystery about Sor Juana's silence," by the Canadian publisher, Random House, reports the New York Times.
The novel first clocked in at 1,000 pages, but the editor asked for more. "What was missing was something that I knew he already knew was missing," Anne Collins, his publisher, explained - the leap into what, from her childhood or whenever, haunted Sor Juana and eventually forced her into her vow of silence. "I told him, 'You can't not go there.' And that's how it got longer."
For more about Sor Juana's life and poetry, visit the Dartmouth College Sor Juana Project.
Before you turn a page of the hefty Hunger's Brides, visit the novel's website for advice on "safe reading positions."

Paris Unveils Book Vending Machines
Next time you're in Paris and crave a literary fix off-hours, get a book from Maxi-Livre.
The French publisher has debuted three new vending machines that sell books at several locations in Paris, reports the AP (via JS online).
Among the titles available are Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal(one of Bookchick's all-time favorites), The Odyssey and Alice in Wonderland. Each book sells for about $2.45.

Author to Auction Character Names for First Amendment Project
Sixteen writers, including Stephen King, John Grisham and Amy Tan, have agreed to name characters in their next novels after winning bidders in an Ebay fundraiser for The First Amendment Project, reports the Guardian.
Fans can choose which writer they want to bid on and the winning bidder's name will be given to a character in the next book.
Just which character is up for grabs. Stephen King says "potential bidders are told that the character to be given their name "can be male or female, but a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female" (his next novel, Cell is already in progress).
Peter Straub warns potential bidders "that the fictional person who winds up bearing his or her name may be of dubious moral character."
Bidding starts September 1, but you can view the auction page at eBay now.

First Edition Gatsby Discovered
A Pennsylvania bookseller discovered a first editon of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in a box of books that had been sitting in his store for over two months reports AP.
The volume has already garnered a $23,000 bid on ebay, before it was identified as a first edition. The first edition of the Jazz-age classic spells Jay Gatsby's name with a lowercase j on the dustjacket, a mistake which was corrected in later editions.

RIP Judith Rossner 1935-2005
The author of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, To the Precipice and Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid, died August 9 at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan, reports The Guardian.
The Manhattan-born Rossner captured the essence of 70's hedonism and alienation in her bestselling Looking for Mr. Goodbar, a story which was based on a real murder case on the Upper West Side, which was later made into a film starring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere.
Rossner's novels plumbed the depths of the female psyche from young wife to gnarled old maid with equal parts of humor and psychological insight.
She is survived by her husband Stanley Leff and two children, Daniel and Jean, from her first marriage.
Read the New York Times obituary.

Writer Prefers Erotica to Tradition

When Mary Anne Mohanraj's parents emigrated to the U.S. from Sri Lanka in the 1970s, they believed their daughter would get a stellar education (preferably in science or medicine), and then settle down to a proper arranged marriage with a Tamil Sri Lankan and procreate. Unfortunately for them, the Internet changed all that.
During the early days of the net, browsing news groups one night, the convent-educatied Mohanraj saw the alt.sex.stories newsgroup and decided to peek in. "The first erotic story she read was so badly written she decided she could do better," reports SFgate.com. She eventually became known as "the queen of alt.sex.stories" for her hot tales, which she wrote in between getting two degrees. Then she was tapped to edit to collections of erotica, Wet and Aqua Erotica (now in it's fifth printing).
Although her parents stopped speaking to her when they found out what she was writing online, they forgave her, but have given up all hope of an arranged marriage. This is good news, because Mohanraj is in a long-term open relationship.
Mohanraj's first collection of stories Bodies in Motion follows to families in Sri Lanka and the U.S. and is not erotic, but a multi-generational saga.
Read the fascinating interview/profile here.