This little gem has been circulating the intertubes the last few days, repulsing even the most avid of book lovers. Hey you, do you have a home library with full walls of bookshelves? Oxblood red sofas with brass tacks and a ladder with which to scale your erudite collection? Keep…
Four years ago, Ray Bradbury was scheduled for a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles for his short story collection, We’ll Always Have Paris. I was in LA at the time working, and had seen Bradbury speak several times on the subject of how movies these…
We’ll hand it to anybody who puts “kick ass” in the title of his workshop. We are, after all, living in a world that would define marriage in a way exclusionary to a mutant and his adorbs long-term boyfriend, so it takes a fair bit of chutzpah to dive into…
Being an election year, you’d be right to expect that more than a few politicos will be crawling out of the woodwork to invigorate their respective bases and jostle the American public from its Twinkie coma to pull down some votes. And that’s exactly what we suspect MSNBC analyst Chris…
It’s hard not to hate a guy who gets a review this good in The New York Times, but when it comes to Ben Fountain, you’ve got to cheer him on. He’s down-to-earth and affable, and that’s not even to mention his undeniable talent. Fountain’s first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long…
The label “housewife” doesn’t really suit Kelly Killoren Bensimon. The word invokes images of tomato-stained aprons and constant scuttling, but those are unlikely components of Bensimon’s world. The Real Housewives, NYC star, former model and author of the new book I Can Make You Hot!: The 3-Day Supermodel Diet likely…
Last summer, we brought you news of NoViolet Bulawayo, an SMU alumna who was named 12th Caine Prize winner. Bulawayo received a master’s in literature here in Dallas before heading to Cornell for an MFA, where she honed her already remarkable talent and launched a career as one of the…
Ben Fountain wrote a novel. Here, you digest that for a moment. That Ben Fountain. O. Henry Award-winning, dual Pushcart Prize-snatching, Texas Institute of Letters award-swiping, McGinnis Richie Prize-fighting, Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award-conquering, Whiting Writers Award-seizing Ben Fountain. And, he’s reading from his yet-unreleased novel on Thursday night in Lakewood. “But,…
In the synopsis from the press release that just landed in our inbox for Kevin R. Given’s new comedic novel, Last Rites: The Return of Sebastian Vaslis, it’s importantly noted that ninjas (always hilarious) and immortals are recruited to ward off “Egyptian and Hebrew vampires.” Who else is helping in…
Ever want to hold up a love (or hate) note to that car crammed up next to you in traffic? Or geekily tell the girl sitting next to you at the bar that you think she’s cute? A new e-book by local artist and photographer Danny Hurley (full disclosure, he’s…
Well, not a chicken, so much as a “Chicken Boy,” the protagonist of Gregory G. Allen’s new kids’ book of the same name. When we last spoke to Allen, he was still living the champagne dreams and caviar wishes (well, emotionally, if not literally) of an independent author’s first big…
Few things are important enough to make me brave the DMA during prime Gaultier hours, but an Arts & Letters Live BooksmART appearance by Author Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket of A Series of Unfortunate Events) and illustrator Maira Kalman made wading through the fashion faux pas well worth it…
We loved large Jennifer Hudson. Everyone did. The admiration wasn’t due to her weight, it was because of her vivacious spirit, unmarred from Hollywood and backed up with a “This is me. Deal.” attitude. Yeah, she was hanging on to an extra 80 pounds — so? It didn’t stop her…
The cozy little shop called The Shabby Sheep, an Uptown emporium of supplies for knitters and crocheters, is now the home of the Jane Austen Society, which will meet at 11 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month, beginning February 11. Encouraging “knitting, spinning, crocheting, snacking, chatting, movie watching…
Being new to a city brings with it certain challenges: Learning Dallas street names, only to have them turn on you moments later. Identifying the strange, elemental metal flavor in the tap water (current suspect: the rarely noted Ruthenium). And of course, the most pressing: meeting like-minded folks. Book clubs…
Most writers hold book signings at book stores. Gregory G. Allen is not most writers. Tomorrow you can find him at Krimson and Klover, an upscale fashion boutique in Uptown, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., dedicating copies of his new novel, Well With My Soul, a 2011 USA Book News…
Are you there, readers? It’s me, Merritt. Did you finish Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned like a good Mixmaster Online Book Club member? Good! That’s exactly what we’d hoped for. Dilly dally no longer and get down there in the comments to discuss lying about causes of death, if you were feeling…
Stephen King made a rare appearance at the 6th Floor Museum recently, touting his new novel, 11/22/63, which was nominated last week for an annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award by the Literary Review. We understand that bad sex might not be the only reasonable gripe about King’s Kennedy-era thriller,…
Let’s face it, teachers, you’re just riding it out until winter break. Well, you’re in luck, because we know how to knock out — what, a week? — of lesson-planning with the annual Letters About Literature contest. Students are asked to write a conversational letter to authors who have inspired…
A few months ago, I discovered that the show of the year was coming. Not Radiohead or Wilco, or even Warbeast. This was a little different. It was something that my 5-year-old niece and her posse are totally nuts over: Pinkalicious the Musical. Excitement started building weeks ago. I’m sure…
Hey, what’s up? You been reading some crazy shit in the first half of this Chuck Palahniuk book, Damned? Yeah. Us too. Want to talk it out down there in the comments? We feel you. Head on down there. We can discuss the remote closing of curtains in Dubai, grimy…
Stephen King’s visit to the former Texas School Book Depository wasn’t morbid, the best-selling author said before Thursday night’s fund-raiser at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas. Instead, he felt “a sense of predestination” while touring The Sixth Floor Museum more than three years ago. Yet his latest book, simply…
