January 2012
23 posts
7 tags
Jan 25th
1 tag
Jan 24th
2 tags
Jan 20th
2 tags
Jan 20th
2 tags
Jan 20th
2 tags
Jan 20th
2 tags
Jan 16th
31 notes
3 tags
Last exit to Llanview: Michael Malone looks back... →
Jan 13th
1 tag
Jan 12th
7 notes
2 tags
“After I learned how to read I liked to copy pictures and trace them and I still...”
– Lynda Barry, from Blabber Blabber Blabber: Volume 1 of Everything
Jan 11th
1 note
2 tags
Jan 11th
1 tag
Jan 11th
5 notes
1 tag
I would like to read something by Colette this year. Any recommendations?
Jan 10th
6 tags
Jan 9th
4 notes
3 tags
Jan 8th
1 note
2 tags
Jan 8th
1 tag
Jan 3rd
13 notes
4 tags
“An aristocracy of swans pushed haughtily through a commonality of ducks and a...”
– from “Badger,” as printed in The Drummer of the Eleventh North Devonshire Fusiliers by Guy Davenport
Jan 2nd
3 tags
Imaginary Danish Books
How To Be Sure As To What Is And What Isn’t The Doll’s Guide to Existentialism If This, Then What? You Are More Miserable Than You Think You Are [This is a list of the books that Belinda the doll sees in the window of a Copenhagen bookshop, in Guy Davenport’s story “Belinda’s World Tour.”  Belinda notes “the Danes are melancholy and drink lots of...
Jan 2nd
4 tags
“Yet Kafka’s stay in the city was not utterly bleak; hence the first of my...”
– Mark Harman in “Missing Persons: Two Little Riddles About Kafka and Berlin” via the Kafka Project. Guy Davenport wrote a story about this episode called “Belinda’s World Tour.”
Jan 2nd
3 tags
Jan 1st
2 notes
2 tags
Jan 1st
2 notes
2 tags
Jan 1st
3 tags
Jan 1st
3 notes
December 2011
16 posts
1 tag
Dec 31st
15 notes
3 tags
“Though Mr. Jubber presented, to all appearance, the most scoundrelly aspect that...”
– Wilkie Collins, in Hide and Seek (1854). Hooray for Wilkie Collins villains! The phrase “climax of blackguard perfection” is my new favorite. A few paragraphs hence Mr. Jubber says accusingly, “What do you mean by enticing away my Mysterious Foundling?” I love it.
Dec 26th
1 tag
Victorian Cribbage Lingo
From Hide and Seek by Wilkie Collins (1854): Zack took Mrs. Blyth’s advice, and sat down by her, with his back towards the cribbage players. “Well, the question is, What present am I to give her?” he went on. “I’ve been twisting and turning it over in my mind, and the long and the short of it is—” (“Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair’s...
Dec 26th
Dec 23rd
4 tags
Dec 20th
1 tag
Dec 20th
53 notes
1 tag
Dec 14th
9 notes
2 tags
Dec 14th
2 notes
3 tags
Dec 10th
1 tag
RIP Dick Adler, you were the best →
Very sad to discover that Dick Adler, the king of mystery book critics, passed away last month. I have so many fond memories of curling up with the Chicago Tribune book section on Sunday, anxious to read his latest. 
Dec 10th
1 tag
Dec 10th
19 notes
2 tags
Dec 9th
228 notes
3 tags
Dec 8th
5 notes
2 tags
Dec 3rd
10 notes
1 tag
world AIDS day
maybe should have expected it, but felt deep dark sad all day.  however, it felt wrong not to post a “get tested!” bit to mark the day.  seriously: get tested.  unless you are celibate, you really can’t know for certain that you are HIV negative today without getting tested.  and if you are positive, it’s important to start getting treatment as soon as possible. please do...
Dec 2nd
November 2011
41 posts
2 tags
Nov 30th
1 tag
Nov 30th
3 notes
2 tags
Nov 30th
56 notes
2 tags
languagehat: The etymology of the word pie →
Nov 29th
9 notes
2 tags
Nov 29th
3 tags
Nov 24th
17 notes
3 tags
Nov 24th
3 tags
Nov 24th
3 notes
2 tags
“Because I don’t like theories and don’t have the wisdom to design a...”
– Guy Davenport, born today in 1927. This is from his essay “What Are Revolutions?” reprinted in The Hunter Gracchus. Davenport’s enthusiasm for Denmark—which comes up fairly often in his writing—is endearing. Born in South Carolina, he spent almost his entire adult life...
Nov 24th
2 notes
6 tags
“Socrates’ daimon was an inheritance from the Pythagoreans. All of our...”
– Guy Davenport, born today, in the essay “Keeping Time,” as reprinted in The Hunter Gracchus.
Nov 23rd
3 tags
“Daimons, Plutarch tells us, are laundered and polished souls of the dead sent...”
– Guy Davenport, born today, in the essay “Keeping Time,” as reprinted in The Hunter Gracchus.
Nov 23rd
2 notes