Image: The Guardian
The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. It is written by @SeattleDan and SeattleTammy, operators of an on-line bookstore (which you can find here) , who have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.
The Book Booth: Here Comes the Rain Again Edition
I generally refuse to acknowledge that Labor Day marks the end of summer. Officially the equinox is not until September 22nd and that is nearly three weeks after the holiday. However, our weather is mild here, the leaves keep turning and we had a rain front move through the other night, so I guess I'll have to review the situation.
With September we do have back-to-school going on. I see the kids in my neighborhood, backpacks attached, walking to and from school. They look...ready. I'm not seeing glee in their faces, but then, again, they don't look bored either. And with back-to-school, we have a list from the Guardian of the best College novels. It's a good one, especially with the now forgotten Lucky Jim included. However the list does not have the best one written, Stoner, the fascinating novel by John Williams which you should now go read if you haven't already.
Campus Novels / University Life
If like me, you won't give summer up just yet, the author Jess Walter offers up a summer tale, In the Woods, which Mr. Walters advises you should stay the hell out of.
The Woods: Not a Place You Want to Be
If you're in the mood for a comical short story, take a look at Robert Coover's latest, Invasion of the Martians, over at the New Yorker. It takes on contemporary politics as well as some of the sillier aspects of popular culture. And I do recommend reading Coover. I think his novel about Richard Nixon and the Rosenbergs, The Public Burning, still holds up after forty years.
When Martians Invade!
We are all familiar with the tales of the Brothers Grimm, Snow White, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood. Well, the folks at MentalFloss have for you some of their more obscure tales, and they are weird, indeed.
Less Known Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales
Some good news from Scribners this past week. Next year they will publish short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald that have not seen print before. Apparently at the time he wrote them, they were deemed a bit too controversial for most 1930's magazines.
Unpublished Stories from F Scott Fitzgerald to Finally See the Light of Day
One of the most fascinating figures from the 19th century was the Swiss writer and explorer, Isabelle Eberhardt. Here Jamie James describes her life in an excerpt from his new book The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic.
Isabelle Eberhardt's Life
We have grown accustomed to first person and unreliable third person narratives. But it seems the growing trend is a return to the omniscient narrator in fiction which Elliott Holt discusses here for the New York Times Book Review.
Who Knows What the Shadow Knows? The Omniscient Narrator
Sad news in the field of young children's books in that the author and illustrator Anna Dewdney passed away this week at age 50 from brain cancer. NPR had this appreciation of the woman best known for her Llama Llama series.
Llama Llama Author Leaves Us
Have a most pleasant weekend, filled with good books, as always. Let us know what book is sitting on top of your to-be-read pile and enjoy.