Thanks in part to articles like this one from Jessa of Bookslut fame, The Second Sex, the Second Time, I’ve been keeping my eye open for the promised new translation to come out. If you want the short history of the translation issues, Maitresse has a good summary — apparently Knopf is publishing it in the US in April, but when I couldn’t find any evidence of this on Amazon US, I went over to Amazon UK and ordered a copy. (Thanks to my Aunt Daphne for the Christmas check.) I first read The Second Sex as a 21 year…
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My latest essay at Bookslut is up: On Eating Alone. Go take a look if you’ve got a minute!
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My new column is up at Bookslut: It wouldn’t be Christmas without a pile of big and fancy cookbooks just waiting to be wrapped in pretty paper and hidden under the tree. Cookbooks are one of my very favorite gifts — especially for the way they encourage people to invite one over for dinner. …
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Writers and typewriters: Barnes, Lively, Holroyd and Moggach | Books | The Guardian. My favorite quote: Michael Holroyd I kept my typewriter after getting a laptop. My first draft was written with a pen, the second on my old friend the typwriter, and finally I used the computer. But something then went wrong. I could not find new ribbons for my old machine. So now I still keep the typewriter conspicuously on my desk and (hiding my laptop) use it to fool burglars who come looking for state-of-the-art technology.
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No Country for Old Typewriters – A Well-Used One Heads to Auction – NYTimes.com. Christie’s, which plans to auction the machine on Friday, estimated that it would fetch between $15,000 and $20,000. Mr. McCarthy wrote an authentication letter — typed on the Olivetti, of course — that states: “It has never been serviced or cleaned other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose. … I have typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not published. Including all drafts and correspondence I would put this at about five million words over a period of…
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Adam Gopnik’s essay on the nature of cookbooks caught my eye in this week’s New Yorker. He covers a range of topics, but the division between cookbooks which are essentially grammatical (Ratio, How to Cook Everything) and cookbooks which are encyclopedic (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) is one that is dear to my heart. What cookbooks are for, and how we use them, or don’t use them — whether we cook from them or simply read them for pleasure is one of the subjects around which I keep circling. Here’s a quote: “However we take cookbooks— grammatically or encyclopedically,…
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Cormac McCarthy, who is famously reticent was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal last week. It’s a terrific interview. Here’s one of my favorite parts: “WSJ: What does your brother Dennis do? Is he a scientist? CM: He is. He has a doctorate in biology and he’s also a lawyer and a thoughtful guy and a good friend. WSJ: Brotherly conversation just turns to the apocalypse? CM: More often than we can justify.”
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My new Cookbook Slut column is up at Bookslut: So the recession hit home here at Cookbook Slut in late July when I was relieved of the corporate job I’ve held for the past ten years. While it wasn’t a job I loved, it was a job that came with a very sturdy paycheck, and when the last severance check arrived this month, I went into something of a panic. There it was. All the Money I Am Ever Going To Have. And so I did what I always do when confronted with financial instability …. (click here to read…
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I don’t know what happened to blogging this week. But then again, I don’t know how it got to be Wednesday afternoon already. In lieu of new blogging, here’s my latest CookbookSlut review over at Bookslut.
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I’ve come late to mysteries, but this is the summer I seem to have discovered them, in particular, mysteries in translation. It’s partially because Chuck buys a lot of books at yard sales and discovered these two guys — one of the things we have in common is houses full of books. We’re both also really happy not to turn the TV on in the evenings, and to read books. It’s been lovely, especially since I feel like I’m still sort of in recovery, and that I’m rebuilding my stores of energy for whatever is going to come next. So…