Microlog
97 Microlog entries tagged with ‘books’
Cooking for Geeks
I need to get this at some point. Food & Drink ·
1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list
Filing this for future reference. Arts & Culture ·
What novels best capture the spirit of Dublin?
Filing this for future reference. Arts & Culture ·
Umberto Eco: ‘People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged’
Remind me to read more Eco please. I’ve only read Baudolino, and that was years ago. Arts & Culture ·
.net’s top 25 books for web designers and developers
I like the broad selection; it’s not all hardcore technical nonsense. Technobabble ·
The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakami
Having now read 1Q84, I can say it’s been fiercer. See also: If Haruki Murakami’s New Book Were Sold Like a Video Game. Arts & Culture ·
How to make an intelligent blockbuster and not alienate people
An extract from Mark Kermode’s new book. I purchased the Kindle version (my review is on Goodreads) but not without jumping through a few hoops. Listen here, Amazon: Ireland (for all intents and purposes) is part of the UK book market, so please fix your regional restriction nonsense. Sound & Screen ·
Words and Music: Pitchfork’s 60 Favorite Music Books
Lots of fodder for the wish list here. Arts & Culture ·
On Bookmarking, Dog Ears and Marginalia
I can’t bring myself to dog-ear or scribble on my books, but technology (note-keeping apps such as Notational Velocity and the like) is making things easier for people like me. Interesting ·
Arm Joe
A 2D fighting game based on Les Misérables. I’m not kidding. Sports & Games ·
The 100 greatest non-fiction books (according to The Guardian)
Filing this for future reference. Arts & Culture ·
Iain M Banks: Science fiction is no place for dabblers
Personally I don’t mind dabbling in sci-fi elements; it’s when some authors are at pains to distance themselves from the genre that really gets my goat. See also: The stars of modern SF pick the best science fiction. Arts & Culture ·
McSweeney’s on The State of Publishing
A series of columns about where the book industry is headed. Arts & Culture ·
Gateways to Geekery: Kurt Vonnegut
Confession time: I’ve never read any Vonnegut. But he really seems like my kind of writer. Arts & Culture ·
‘What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text’
On the future of marginalia in the age of the e-reader. I’m of the opinion that e-books make things easier, especially for people like me who can’t/won’t write in their books. I’d never highlight passages or scribble notes in a physical copy, but I’d happy do it all day with an e-book (I did it a lot while reading Moneyball). Arts & Culture ·
This Gaming Life free to read online
Jim Rossignol’s book on gaming culture available in full online. Shame it’s not downloadable as an e-book. Sports & Games ·
Read Houdini’s books via Google Books and Library of Congress
Saved here for future reference. Interesting ·
Oral History at the End of the World: World War Z and its Cousins
I still need to read the Max Brooks books; I feel like I’ve missed out on the whole zombie zeitgeist. Arts & Culture ·
Bobbie Johnson’s idea for digital books
“I like this, but I fear it may be unworkable (how to provide proof of purchase, for one; and there’s so many deleted titles that will never be digitised). Arts & Culture ·
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
The AskMeFi hive mind recommends books that analyse horror movies. I’ll be adding some of these to my wish list. Arts & Culture ·
Vanity Press Plus: The Tweetbook
Tempted to do this for my own tweet archive. Arts & Culture ·
Infovore: A book of photographs that I made
Very, very nice. I may have to make one myself. Arts & Culture ·
Confessions of a Book Pirate
“In truth, I think it is clear that morally, the act of pirating a product is, in fact, the moral equivalent of stealing… although that nagging question of what the person who has been stolen from is missing still lingers.” This here is the kicker; the spectre that looms over all forms of electronic copying. And the reason why the question still lingers is because ‘piracy’ is just as easily compared to the second-hand marketplace as it is to outright stealing — and nobody would call someone who buys second-hand books or music a thief, would they? [c/o Kottke] Arts & Culture ·
Jonathan Lethem on the streets of Brooklyn
An interview with the author of The Fortress of Solitude upon the release of his latest, Chronic City. According to Lethem, the Brooklyn he loves is marked by “a definitive incompleteness”. Couldn’t the same be said for any city-with-a-soul? Arts & Culture ·
The Weird Book Room
Just goes to show there’s a market for just about everything, however small that market might be. Arts & Culture ·
Touch and Go: The Complete Years
The fanzine that begat the label that begat a metric shitload of bands that changed people’s lives forever. Sound & Screen ·
Falling out of love with Murakami
I love Murakami, and I don’t care about the clichés (the enigmatic women, the jazz, the pasta), nor that his stories are one-off experiences (as I never re-read books anyway). Arts & Culture ·
Kottke on the origins of Green Eggs and Ham
I had no idea. Arts & Culture ·
The Penguin Blog
Stop the presses! Publishing house catches on to blogging malarkey! But seriously, it’s a very good thing that such a company has seen fit to put a more human face on what are normally quite anonymous operations. It might even stoke some sort of qualitative loyalty for the imprint, akin to that enjoyed by independent record labels. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Arts & Culture ·
From a list of new Library of Congress subject headings that received Dewey Decimal numbers last year
I’m not a professional cataloguer (though I could have been) but shouldn’t the last one be ‘Video games—wrestling’? Arts & Culture ·
Barbelith discusses book format and readability
Myself? I hate paperbacks with shitty-quality paper and type that’s too small, but I also find hardbacks unwieldy and far too expensive. And I only wish I had the space for trade paperbacks. Oy. (See also: Literary Novels Going Straight to Paperback; related Metafilter thread.) Arts & Culture ·
John Updike on Chip Kidd
Kidd is the darling of book cover design, and with good reason. Arts & Culture ·
Hello, would you like a free book?
Yes I would, thank you very much. And if I didn’t already have three of them, I would’ve taken at least five. Reading isn’t just a ‘women’s thing’, despite McEwan’s little social experiment. Arts & Culture ·
Reflections in the Evening Land
“The celebrated critic Harold Bloom, despairing of contemporary America, turns to his bookshelves to understand the trajectory of his country.” Arts & Culture ·
Suck.com, Gone for Good?
Important and influential website disappears from the web. But sad story takes positive spin when important and influential bloggers rally to save it. I love the internets. Arts & Culture ·
“I am inclined to think of late that as much depends on the state of the bowels as of the stars. As are your bowels, so are the stars.”
Arts & Culture ·
Verbatim: The Language Quarterly
I found this at least a year ago but never linked at the time. Well worth a download. Arts & Culture ·
Design Engaged book list
I shouldn’t really post this. I have enough books to read as it is [c/o del.icio.us/thoughtwax]. Arts & Culture ·
“An almanac of Complete World Knowledge compiled with instructive annotation and arranged in useful order by me, John Hodgman, a professional writer, in The Areas Of My Expertise”
I’ve subsequently seen the man on The Daily Show, and it makes me want his book even more. Arts & Culture ·
Short Guardian profile on Paul Auster
Probably best not to read this if you don’t know the ending of The Music of Chance. Which I didn’t until I read this. Thanks a lot. Arts & Culture ·
McSweeney’s has a new online store
But international postage is still an unbelievable 18 dollars for an 8-dollar magazine. Seriously, what’s up with that? Arts & Culture ·
Little White Lies
A new magazine about movies, or rather the thoughts and conversations they inspire. Looks interesting. Arts & Culture ·
The Funny Pages [c/o kottke.org]
The NYT cashes in on the vogue for literary comics with their new section. But it’s a good thing. Arts & Culture ·
Paul Auster: The Definitive Website
Plus more Auster goodness linked by thoughtwax. Arts & Culture ·
What is a “graphic novel”? [c/o LinkMachineGo]
This answers the question cleary and concisely. And in pictures! Arts & Culture ·
Comic Relief: Newsweek’s primer on graphic novels
It was written by committee, so caveat lector. Arts & Culture ·
The Marvel Database Project [c/o Subtraction]
Arts & Culture ·
LibriVox [c/o Mat Honan]
An open source project to produce audio versions of books in the public domain. Why didn’t I think of that? Arts & Culture ·
Foreword: A Book Design Blog [c/o Languagehat]
Arts & Culture ·
Observer review of Jonathan Lethem’s The Disappointment Artist
Arts & Culture ·
Ask MetaFilter thread on sprawling post-modern novels [c/o kottke.org]
Yet another list, I know! As for this one: I’ve got a breeze-block sized paperback of Infinite Jest waiting to be delved into. Arts & Culture ·
Michael Palin’s travel books online for free
Nice one! I always liked the TV series. Now, to copy and paste… Arts & Culture ·
On Terry Pratchett’s feelings for JK Rowling
I tend to side with Pratchett on this one. Rowling misunderstands the genre, and just appropriated the imagery and iconography; Pratchett, however, is the real subverter. Arts & Culture ·
Birnbaum v. Camille Paglia
I won’t get around to reading this till my thesis is done. It’d be great if there was a recording, too. Arts & Culture ·
Summer Reading Assignment
Another reading list! Though most of my reading so far this summer has been research for my thesis… not that I’m complaining. Arts & Culture ·
Popular books in the blogosphere
You’re all nerds! Arts & Culture ·
Daniel Clowes: A comic book hero
Arts & Culture ·
A level-headed review of The Question of Zion
Might be worth a read, but that cover has got to go. Arts & Culture ·
Sigla’s Feargal reads The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
I don’t agree with him — I thought it got much better after the first 100 pages, and I didn’t feel cheated at the end — but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Murakami’s books are strange ones. They either click or they don’t. Arts & Culture ·
When Jonathan Safran Foer was eight years old, he was caught up in a cataclysm that he has found impossible to talk about for 20 years - until now
Gripping reading. Arts & Culture ·
A compilation of summer reading lists (plus The Guardian Review’s hot reads, and The Observer’s summer essentials list)
Must… stop… adding to my book queue… must… resist! Arts & Culture ·
Booksellers Ponder the Future of Browsing [c/o ArtsJournal]
I don’t see browsing going anywhere. But America is always different about these things… Arts & Culture ·
“Peer review is a very flawed practice … It is slow and expensive, a lottery, and prone to abuse and bias. Much of the time it doesn’t pick up errors.”
I should note as an aside to this that it always struck me as strange how the financial model of academic journals could be allowed to become standard practice. Arts & Culture ·
Michael Chabon has a weblog
And a very nice weblog it is, too. Arts & Culture ·
Where I’m Likely to Find It, by Haruki Murakami [c/o The Morning News]
I’ve had this saved as a tab in Safari for weeks, and only got around to reading it this evening. Arts & Culture ·
Factsheet 5 returns
I’ve only ever had a passing interest in (actually it’s been more like an awe of) fanzine writing. A long time ago I thought about maybe compiling some of my writing from this site into a zine or a chapbook, and distribute it through the site. But I barely felt confident about the blog as it was… Arts & Culture ·
Damon Galgut’s The Good Doctor is in the running for this year’s Impac award
If he wins it would be well-deserved. The Good Doctor is an excellent book, sadly overlooked in the Booker Prize shuffle of 2003. (The only shortlisted novels I ever saw on front display that year were Ali’s, Atwood’s and DBC Pierre’s.) Arts & Culture ·
The Observer talks to six authors preparing for the launch of their debut novels
One of them is 72 years old! Goes to show that it’s never too late to start. Arts & Culture ·
A new website for The Believer
I knew this was Scott David Herman’s handiwork as soon as I saw it. Very nice. (Though I do wish they wouldn’t give so much time to that assclown Todd Solondz.) Arts & Culture ·
Robert Birnbaum talks with the prolific Joyce Carol Oates
I’m linking to this because… you get the idea. Arts & Culture ·
The Diagnosis, by Ian McEwan
I’m linking to this because I haven’t read it yet but I want to and if I don’t link to it I’ll likely forget it exists. Arts & Culture ·
How to Read Mathematics
I have a severe distaste, and yet a healthy respect, for mathematics, so I might just read this one. Arts & Culture ·
Is Donald Barthelme the answer to the Dan Rather mystery?
Arts & Culture ·
Haruki Murakami thread at Metafilter
Arts & Culture ·
Google Scholar
Arts & Culture ·
The Sixth Borough, a story by Jonathan Safran Foer
Arts & Culture ·
Man Booker Prize shortlist announced
Arts & Culture ·
Great Ideas, a fantastic new budget series from Pengiun Books
Arts & Culture ·
‘£50 cash or £100 travel vouchers’, a poem by Julian Fox
Arts & Culture ·
Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts [c/o kottke.org]
Arts & Culture ·
Sentences of Discontent
Arts & Culture ·
Walt Whitman is 90 stories tall, and his adventures are legendary
Arts & Culture ·
What books have influenced your life?
Arts & Culture ·
“Et tu, Brute?” Not anymore. “And you too, Brutus?” is what students read in a new genre of study guides that modernize the Elizabethan English found in Julius Caesar and other plays by William Shakespeare
Arts & Culture ·
Slepping: its so smiple
Arts & Culture ·
John O’Farrell on literary prizes
Arts & Culture ·
DJ Taylor discusses the judging process prior to last night’s award of the Booker Prize (DBC Pierre won it, by the way)
Arts & Culture ·
Edward Said, 1935-2003 (author of Orientalism)
Arts & Culture ·
JM Coetzee on being Lost in London
Arts & Culture ·
The Guardian unveils the shady past of Booker Prize nominee DBC Pierre
Arts & Culture ·
The Brotherhood of Pranks by Jonathan Franzen
Arts & Culture ·
Shortlist for the Tolman Cunard prize for best single poem
Arts & Culture ·
Bluffer’s Guide to the Perfect Novel
Arts & Culture ·
Short fiction special in today’s Guardian
Arts & Culture ·
Our Perfect Summer by David Sedaris [c/o kottke.org]
Arts & Culture ·
Dave Eggers to drop surname for next novel, be known as simply ‘Dave’: Why doesn’t he just change it to “Me”? That’s what it’s all about, right? (right on!) [c/o Gawker] (Correction: it was apparently just a rumour)
Arts & Culture ·
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page lists all Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy tagged with ‘books’. You will find many more entries sorted by month and by category in the Archives.
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