Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Worth a look

The novelist John Lanchester has some interesting things to say about copyright and intellectual property in general. (Viktor Janis, among others, spotted this.)

The Washington Post did an experiment to find out whether people can recognise a true artist when they hear (see/read) one, and finds that they can't. No surprise there then. Thanks to Maria Schneider for the link.

Latest in the ranks of those reviewing print-on-demand books only is The PODler. He has interesting things to say about what a POD author should expect. And, by an amazing coincidence, he reviews my Lucius the Club (10 April).

Madame Arcati acts as hostess to Molly Parkin's poetry. In one poem, Molly reports having sex, aged 73, with a 23-year-old young man from down under (it tends to be catching, doesn't it?); and in another she describes living in the Tower of Babel -- which sounds quite a friendly place. Our Moll wrote lots of books once upon a time, but no one seems to have listed them in a proper bibliography online. Abebooks can find some for you.

After three years, Biff Mitchell has finished Murder by Burger. Now all he has to do....

In his first novel, about McCarthy-era Hollywood, Eoin Hennigan claims that The Truth, it Lies.

Someone, probably Little, Brown & Co (young readers division), has spent a lot of money on the web site for Atherton. There's also an associated web site, Unlock Dr Harding's Brain, but I advise you not to go there without a youthful guide, otherwise you'll get hopelessly lost and confused. I certainly did.

Sam Tyler, he dead. Imho. When a little girl turns off your TV set, I reckon that's it. And if you're an American, and have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. You will.

For a regular stream of reviews on every sort and kind of book, try the January Magazine. Where there is, by another amazing coincidence, a review of Lucius the Club.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such excellent and well deserved reviews, Michael. I, too, enjoyed Lucius the Club immensely--it's marvelously shocking and absolutely worth reading!

Anonymous said...

Fascinating musical experiment. I think he'd have had more success if he had not chosen the Bach Chaconne - it takes concentration and who is going to concentrate while they're rushing to work?

When I worked in the Bank of England there was a summer when there were classical buskers in the underpass to Bank underground, which has the acoustics of a public lavatory. I particularly remember a violin and flute combination playing Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits. It stopped the commuters, such that the station staff started to worry about crowd control.

They also scored well with Mozart, Haydn and Handel (NOTE all had tunes). The dreamiest did the best - demonstrating that the harried commuter aspires to another level of existence, I guess.

bhadd said...

Jenny Haddon is a genius. Commuters attending music don't commute.

The Hood Company