- Popping in here so as not to disappear too thoroughly, though I have been reminded that April is always my busiest month*. The work, I am doing it. (If I owe you something–a read or some other type of response–I just haven't gotten to it yet. I will. Promise.)
- So many great David Foster Wallace posts/essays/pieces around. I will read The Pale King at some point, but I don't think I'm ready yet. The tragedy still feels too fresh (and it doesn't hurt that there is no time to give it the quiet reading space I want to at the moment). And maybe I'll reread his essays again first. That said, definitely don't miss: Lev Grossman's piece on The Pale King for Time or Maria Bustillos' devastating look through the Ransom Center's archives and DFW's annotated self-help library at the Awl. (Aside: The Ransom Center is amazing.) ETA: An interview with artist Karen Green, DFW's wife, which is heartbreaking. Even more heartbreaking than the rest.
- At the Paris Review blog, Sigrid Nunez talks about Susan Sontag: "For one thing, though you hear it said about Susan that she was a very private person, she was in fact the least private person I’ve ever known. She told everyone everything: the most intimate details about her life, all about her personal history, the people she knew, famous or unfamous, what she thought of everyone and everything—she had no use for secrecy or even for discretion. And it was never as if I was her special confidante. Whatever she shared with me she shared with many others as well." (Via Maud.)
- The two wikipedia finds of the week: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo (via Miriam) and a catalogue of Lost work (via Ed).
- More from the beloved and fantastic Awl: Six Writers Tell All About Covers and Blurbs. (Including the one and only Bennett Madison, who has been posting Dazzler spreads at his tumblr lately–that sounds way more offensive than it is. In reality, it is two thumbs up.)
- Speaking of tumblrs: Write Place, Write Time. You know you love ogling other people's writing environs.
- Long live WMMT, one of the best radio stations ever. Anywhere.
- An excellent post on character motivation by Charlie Jane over at i09: What If Your Characters Don't Want Anything? (Then you probably better make them.)
- The pointy boot Mexican dance. How I love this. (Via someone on twitter, I forget who.)
- Do they really need to specify Kentucky bourbon? If so, LAST DAYS OF CIVILIZATION finally NIGH. It won't be e-books but bourbon from ELSEWHERE that signals the end. (No, it's not bourbon if it's from somewhere else–it may be legally called bourbon, but that's not the same thing, is it?) (At any rate, *cheers*.)
*Reserving the right to declare this pretty much every month, if needed.
Those two DFW pieces, in conjunction, made me so sad.
Me too–that’s one of the main reasons I feel I’m not up to reading the book yet.
Many thanks for Buffalo.