... Praying For Christopher Hitchens .

... Mr. Mimic . Sammy was a good deal more than a mimic, as I think this clip demonstrates. His version of this song is the best by anyone e...

... David Lipsky on the Late David Foster Wallace .

... The Return of William F. Buckley Jr. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

... Whitney Balliett’s Studio . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... Extraordinarily Ordinary .

... Hitchens diagnosed with cancer . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I write of the wish that comes true - for some reason, a terrifying concept. - James M. Cain , born on this date in 1892

The business of electronic books...

... Lisa reads: The Killing of Mindi Quintana by Jeffrey A. Cohen .

... Science historian cracks "the Plato code" . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I was hoping Mark would comment on this. And he has: Interpr...

... I’m no Atticus Finch, but my son thinks I’m a hero . This is a lovely piece.

... Books that win prizes, genres that don't . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism. - Czeslaw Milosz, born o...

... Dana Gioia recently sent me some recordings of Lauridsen's music. So I thought I would post something so that others could share in ...

... The full impact of life’s unimaginable beauty and wonder .

I won't be blogging again until later today. I have an article to finish and some appointments to keep.

A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , born on ...

When the characters are really alive before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the ...

... The kitten killers and how a dog guy came to adopt a feral kitten .

... You're never too old to start writing . (Hat tip, Paul Davis.) I'm beginning to hope you're never too old to stop.

... The Feuding Fathers . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... A dangerous seduction . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) ... the mistake is to collapse the diversity which springs from that desire into one undi...

... once you get to know him: In search of the real Philip Larkin . (Hat tip, Dave Lull) The charges of misogyny ... are about to start look...

... 5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies) . Well, I once watched someone empty a mere .22 automatic with silencer atta...

... quite a discussion attached to this post: Time to stop pretending ... Feel free to join in.

... Paul Davis reviews Janet Evanovich: Plum's on trail again, and cows run in Trenton . ... 'Contested Will' proves Shakespea...

Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for...

... BOOK REVIEW: 'Mad World'. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

... Too Complicated for Words . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I once spent three weeks listening again and again to Elliott Carter's complete st...

... Earliest known images of apostles discovered under Rome streets .

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work. - Pearl Buck , born ...

... Conversation: Archive Offers Revealing Look at John Updike . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... and really noir it is: For When: The reds want you dead .

... What 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Isn't . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Judging by the comments, Allen's is minority view. I have no...

... If You Love Newspapers, Let Them Go . (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

... The Openness Elixir . As Robert Boyle, one of the founding fathers of modern science, recognized, experimental error is part of the s...

... Gustave Charpentier.

There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them. - George Orwell , born on this date in 1903

... Manute Bol's Radical Christianity . Bol reportedly gave most of his fortune, estimated at $6 million, to aid Sudanese refugees. As ...

... Firmness in the Write . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... On crime & thrillers: Dead Man’s Hand, Crime Fiction at the Poker Table .

... Self-satisfied science . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 4) . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... of the chaos of life: Conan Doyle and the creeping man . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... The Naked Novelist and the Dead Reputation . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Until he is forgotten, Mailer should be remembered not only in a fool...

... Jim Thompson was no genius . (Hat tip, Paul Davis.) He may not have been a genius, but he does seem to have been pretty good.

... Paul Siegell .

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students. - John Ciardi , born on this date in 1916

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students. - John Ciardi , born on this date in 1916

... Kindling Faulkner: The Fiction of Scott Turow . (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

... Lisa reads: Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes . Hawthorne is another those writers whose stories, I think, are better than his novels....

... Nestle Barge to Ply the Amazon, Bringing Ice Cream and Rage . If there are people out there so backwards to still be subsisting on foo...

To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if say...

... Lord Quinton . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... Thrilled To Death: Feeling 'The Power And The Glory' . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... Albert Huffstickler: "Holy Secrets" and "Having Dinner with Henry Miller" .

... Updike at Work: A Conversation . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Dave also sends: John Updike’s Archive: A Great Writer at Work . Literary Ore of...

... Luxurious Leather-bound Books from the Franklin Library .

... who will need no explanation.

... June 26th- Rutkowski and Quatroche in Fox Chase.

Truly the universe is full of ghosts, not sheeted churchyard spectres, but the inextinguishable elements of individual life, which having on...

... himself, singing one of the great songs.

... have I mentioned that I think the Kinks are the great rock band? Also Muswell Hillbillies is one of the best albums.

Blogging was light and spotty for the past week because I had quite a few odds and ends to deal with, such as arranging a shipment of books ...

... Local Area Events .

... Casino Royale Revisited: The Film that Offered a New Beginning for Ian Fleming and the James Bond Phenomenon.

Penguin's recent reissuing of Stephen Vizinczey's classic In Praise of Older Women (1965) has generated a number of interesting - a...

... Walking the tightrope between translation and interpretation . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... to Ray Davies, born on this date in 1944.

After Proust, there are certain things that simply cannot be done again. He marks off for you the boundaries of your talent. - Françoise S...

... Ron Slate on First Loves and Other Adventures, essays by Grace Schulman .

... Allen Hoey Passes On .

... Music of the sun recorded by scientists .

... Back Channels: Boldly confronting the problems of Islam .

... Studying tlhIngan Hol and other odd tongues .

... 21st century enlightenment? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) ... I don't buy the notion that contemporary science is throwing up all kinds of...

... yours truly reviews Marisa Silver's latest: Skillful stories would be better if they let a little sunshine i...

Life inspires more dread than death - it is life which is the great unknown. - E. M. Cioran , who died on this date in 1995

From the New York Times ...

... look at the clouds: Breaking Things Down to Particles Blinds Scientists to Big Picture . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Time and time again, an ...

... Geoffrey Hill triumphs as Professor of Poetry . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't. - Blaise Pascal , born on thi...

... Nobel-winning Portuguese novelist Saramago dies . (Hat tip, Hedgie.)

... Anne Carson's Nox by the river .

... of TLS Letters : The Rule of Law, Sporty Churchill, Mithraism, and more!

... Ron Slate on Four New Poetry Anthologies .

... the latest Poetica .

... Feeling the Heat: The Brain Holds Clues for Journalism . Our ancestors became our ancestors by being able to spot danger and the opport...

... Children believe that what they see on the screen has actually happened — to them ? I'm not in favor of letting kids see porn, eith...

... I hope: HBO Plans to Make a Film about Ernest Hemingway and his Wife Martha Gelhorn, Starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman .

... NH professor pushes for return to slow reading . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I am a lifelong slow reader.

... Psychobabble and the Real Perps . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) The psychology of the real me is surprisingly similar to belief in possession ...

Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else and failing. - Raymond Radiguet , born on this date in 1903

... Interview: Keri Walsh and Sylvia Whitman .

... Saint Julian, by Walter Wangerin Jr.

... They Dug Him Up Once Already .

... `The Departure of a Once-Useful Word' .

... Ron Slate on Nothing Happened and Then It Did, essays/stories by Jake Silverstein .

... Introducing The Millions’ “Books and Reviews” .