MOST RECENT BLOG POSTS
Donald E. Westlake, R.I.P. Bitterly sad news for mystery lovers....
Notes on Oldgirlfriendophobia In addition to Susan Sontag's diaries, we now have those of her lover "H"...
Gifts for downwardly mobile artists, art lovers, and readers...
One more one more time My Louis Armstrong biography has one last, absolutely final (I hope) title....
Un-Foxxy The National Book Critics Circle has redesigned its website, minus the mascot...
Waiting for a Twitch Malcolm Mc Neill is an artist who can write. His unpublished memoir about collaborating William Burroughs is spellbinding....
Thoughtcast: Robert Silvers An interview with the founder of "The New York Review of Books"...
From their mouths Announcing the release by the British Library of two important new spoken-word CD anthologies drawn from the BBC's archives....
Debts of Gratitude Remembering John Leonard's generosity...
Richard Wright's centennial is this year In the Age of Obama, is the author of Native Son still relevant? Well, Chicago shaped them both...
John Leonard He was the literary critic as embodiment of enthusiasm. RIP...
Obama Book Bubble People have gone nuts for newspapers marking the Obama victory. Now get a look at the book collectors' market....
Texas Books, Texas Politics The Texas Book Festival always has lots of political content (setting it apart). So what happened in an election year?...
Dept. of Meta-Recommendation The best books of fall '08 weren't all published in this decade, even...
Who's on first? Was Raymond Chandler a plagiarist?...
A glimpse of history On May 17, 1947, Louis Armstrong gave a concert that changed his life--and a photographer was there....
Adventures in copyright One of the minor pleasures of writing a biography is picking the illustrations....
King of the Road An old-fashioned public intellectual wishes he could find a modern Chautauqua circuit...
Ig-Nobel Thoughts Is U.S. lit a provicial backwater, obsessed with American Idol?...
Snapshot This week's video: Truman Capote talks about writing "In Cold Blood."...
Wrapping it up How it feels to finish writing a biography--and give it a new title....
SMcL on BHL Checking out on the latest from France's playboy philosopher...
Anxiety of influence William Maxwell, plagiarist. Sort of....
It's official Harcourt will be bringing out Rhythm Man, my Louis Armstrong biography, in the fall of 2009....