Remainders of the afternoon

Interviewer par excellence Robert Birnbaum takes on James Wood, the noted critic whose new book of essays, THE IRRESPONSIBLE SELF, has been widely chattered about around the ‘sphere. They discuss cricitism, Dale Peck, whether Would consider editing fiction, and a hell of a lot more.

John Irving has just finished a new novel, a monster at 345,000 words. Problem is, he woke up 28 days ago and realized the book should be in the first person. So he’s rewriting it, 8-9 hours/day at a time to meet the pub date of next June. Meanwhile, the movie adaptation of A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR will be in theaters soon as THE DOOR ON THE FLOOR, which is why the Globe and Mail’s interviewing him in the first place.

Poor Charles Green. All he wanted was some material for a novel, and he ends up getting treated like a would-be terrorist. It’s the 21st century version of Ian Rankin walking into a police station to ask questions for his then-upcoming novel KNOTS AND CROSSES and getting treated like a suspect….(link from Kevin.)

Steve Almond inspires tremendous division amongst litbloggers (pro: me and Jessa. Con: Mark) but there’s no denying that CANDYFREAK broke out in a big way this year. The Boston Globe profiles him and marvels at the success of the little candy book that could.

Oh good lord, another “subgenre” gets scrutinized in the British press. Guys, knock it off, will ya? “Toff lit” is not a trend. Really, it isn’t. Aristocrats: cool in historicals, silly in contemporary novels.

Orion’s Nine New Blood Campaign that launched a slew of crime writers earlier this year goes into its second phase, now that all the books are available in paperback for a mere 4.99. The Guardian sponsors a contest to win the complete set.

Looks like Harlequin’s starting to take a little bit of a bath. Booksquare has the scoop on which lines are getting cut, which are being beefed up, and who’ll lose out as a result.

And finally, I wouldn’t have thought a track meet would be an ideal place to get engaged, but then, I’m not Hazel Clark…*

*I am, however, getting rather obsessed with all things track and BALCO-related, which may be the subject of a post later this week. I wasn’t supposed to care about the Olympics. Damn and double damn…