Today we’ve got a little something for everyone, be they poets, James Bond fans, or small business owners. The Oxford professor of poetry has been announced, and interviews are available with Jeffrey Eugenides and an independent bookstore owner in Brooklyn. And for devoted readers of Lee Child’s Reacher series, an LA Times review is out for the latest book. Enjoy!
- Ruth Padel has been announced as the next Oxford professor of poetry, making her the first woman to hold the position since its creation 301 years ago. Padel was appointed to the position yesterday after Nobel laureate Derek Walcott withdrew last week. Former poets to hold the prestigious post include Seamus Heaney and W. H. Auden, so you might want to remember Ruth Padel’s name. For more information about Padel and Walcott’s contraversial withdrawal, see the Guardian‘s report.
Oxford's newest prof, Ruth Padel
- Lee Child’s latest in the bestselling Jack Reacher series, Gone Tomorrow, is out today and sure to have his fans flooding the bookstores. The Los Angeles Times Book Review calls this 13th installment “creepier and more serious than some others in the series,” with fewer scenes centering on Reacher’s raw power as he tries to combat international terrorism. The review also draws comparisons between Reacher and earlier heroes of the suspense/ action genre. For the full review by Kenneth Turan, click here.
- Jeffrey Eugenides, bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, talked to Sam Tanenhaus (editor of the New York Times Book Review) about his two novels, their setting (and his hometown) Detroit, and what he’s working on now. Unfortunately for his fans, it will be a couple years before his next book comes out, but he assures us that it will be as unique as the first two. He also mentions getting fired from an executive assistant job for writing the Virgin Suicides manuscript at work. If the internet didn’t exist, maybe work boredom would drive the rest of us to be literary sensations, as well. But… it does exist, so you can watch a video of the interview here (and write your novel tomorrow).
- It’s getting harder and harder to survive as an independent bookstore, but Word, an indie in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has managed to keep growing throughout the recession. Bookslut interviews the women in charge, who share their thoughts on the current marketplace and what it means to be a community hub. Keys to success involve a basketball league for book lovers (A Tree Dunks in Brooklyn is just one of the ten teams) and, yes, a Twitter account. Even if you haven’t begun tweeting, the interview is a helpful look at how to put books in the spotlight despite ever tightening purse strings.
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