TOP 100 BOOK SITES
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| Children’s Books: The Art of Sound A pop-up romp through cubism and futurism, and a lesson in early-20th-century modernist formalism. feeds.nytimes.com |
The Paris Review Interviews Vol 4 edited by Philip Gourevitch | Book review Jack Kerouac, William Styron and VS Naipaul among others offer stunning insights into the art of writing, says Jessica HollandWriting is difficult and painful and writers are all a little mad. That's the first impression you get from this fourth anthology of interviews with authors about their art, which are arranged chronologically from William Styron in 1954 to Marilynne Robinson in 2008. "Let's face it," Styron says, right off the bat, "writing is hell."Of course, it offers highs as well as lows and both are fascinating to read about. Aspiring writers should find plenty of tips to prod them into action: stick to a schedule, find a quiet place to write and don't worry about plot and characterisations: in the words of Paul Auster: "You find the book in the process of doing it. That's the adventure of the job."A 1968 interview with Jack Kerouac is a highlight – he's as excitable and hyperbolic as you'd hope, improvising poems between swigs of liquor, playing the piano and telling wild stories. Asked why he's written copiously about Buddha but never about Jesus, he's explosive: "I've never written about Jesus? In other words, you're an insane phony who comes to my house… and… all I write about is Jesus."VS Naipaul also stands out, because he's so damn difficult. He constantly asks the interviewer to rephrase questions, takes offence at most of them and describes himself (at Oxford University) as "far more intelligent than most of the people in my college or in my course" and his own work as "extraordinary". The punchline comes when he asks, wrapping up the session, "Do you think I've wasted a bit of myself talking to you?" The interviewer responds with good grace: "Not, of course, how I'd put it."While you may not instantly warm to all 19 writers interviewed, it's invigorating to spend an hour or so in the company of each vicariously. Most of us are never going to be part of a dazzling creative community like the Bloomsbury set or the Algonquin group, where we can exchange devastating quips and discuss art with the most brilliant minds of a generation. We'll just have to see The Paris Review Interviews as a great consolation prize.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Tom Waits to star in The Hobbit? The gravel-voiced one is reportedly being considered for a role in the forthcoming film of JRR Tolkien's novel. Our bet is that he'll play Smaug, the fire-breathing dragonWill Tom Waits battle Bilbo Baggins? A "trusted" source working on Guillermo del Toro's production of The Hobbit claims that the singer-songwriter is up for a part.Waits has acted before, in films such as Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law. But he has never played the kind of character you would expect to find in a JRR Tolkien's novel. Though the role under consideration isn't clear, an anonymous source told Ain't It Cool News that Waits is near the top of del Toro's list. "As much as I'd like to say he's a lock, I'm told he's simply someone the production is talking about," claims the source, "but they seem to be talking about him pretty seriously."For all his charms, Waits seems an unlikely pick for Bilbo, the titular hobbit played by Ian Holm in The Lord of the Rings films. He is, above all, too grumpy. Besides, a cornucopia of much more avuncular, nerdy actors, including The Office's Martin Freeman, Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe and Doctor Who's David Tennant are reportedly under consideration for the part. The film-makers are reportedly auditioning unknown actors too.Our bet is that Waits is on a list of candidates to voice Smaug, the dragon that lords (and hoards) over the fantasy epic's second half. It wouldn't be the first time that someone imagined Waits as a dragon: 10 years ago, he was Jeff Smith's first choice to play the Red Dragon in an adaptation of the Bone graphic novels. That movie died in development, but the image of Waits as riddling fire-breather is hard to shake.Del Toro plans to release The Hobbit as two films, with shooting to begin in 2010.Tom WaitsPop and rockJRR TolkienSean Michaelsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
What a wonderfully definitive biography of Louis Armstrong Within the history of modern culture, it is extremely rare to find an artistic genius who is also a universally popular entertainer. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Young Adult: Jersey Girls Teenage sisters cope with an alcoholic father in this novel set on the Jersey Shore. feeds.nytimes.com |