Hey, kid! Stop reading books for fun!

The latest report is not promising: adults are pushing their kids away from picture books to serious books, apparently in aid of getting them into Ivy League colleges or something. Alex Palmer tracks the history of kid's books in his response to this on HuffPo. 'The big story on The New York Times today is that parents are again urging children to ditch children's books. Sure, Where the Wild Things Are and Green Eggs and Ham may be beloved by generations of kids, but many parents are concerned that colorful pictures and imaginative stories aren't going to give their 5-year-old a leg-up on their SATs...But beyond pros and cons, what's also interesting is that this recent push is not actually recent at all. Attempts to get kids reading books that are good for them, rather than what they want to read, go back centuries, and this is only the latest instance of adults trying to take the fun out of children's books.' More...

Mario Vargas Llosa interview

The Paris Review reminds us of an interview they conducted with the new Nobel laureate back in 1990.

''As far as I’m concerned, I believe the subject chooses the writer. I’ve always had the feeling that certain stories imposed themselves on me; I couldn’t ignore them, because in some obscure way, they related to some kind of fundamental experience—I can’t really say how. For example, the time I spent at the Leonico Prado Military School in Lima when I was still a young boy gave me a real need, an obsessive desire to write. It was an extremely traumatic experience which in many ways marked the end of my childhood—the rediscovery of my country as a violent society, filled with bitterness, made up of social, cultural, and racial factions in complete opposition and caught up in sometimes ferocious battle. I suppose the experience had an influence on me; one thing I’m sure of is that it gave rise to the great need in me to create, to invent.' More...

David Sedaris

Sedaris has a new book out. The bio piece in the Washington Post is a solid introduction to the man and his unique work. 'He was an impoverished 30-something when public radio's Ira Glass heard him read some of his work at a Chicago bar. A few years later, around the holidays, Glass remembered the performance and phoned Sedaris to ask if he had any Christmas-themed essays. Sedaris sent him "SantaLand Diaries," about his work as a Macy's elf; Glass, then working for NPR's "Morning Edition," accepted based on the paper copy, not hearing the story out loud until Sedaris recorded it several days later. "He got to the part of the story where he sings like Billie Holiday," Glass recalls, "and I remember thinking, 'Oh, my, we have entered very unusual territory at this point.' " ' More...

The Joker

An awful lot of us were raised on comic books, and for that matter graphic novels are nothing more than comic books all grown up. And then there's the movies, which have drawn on comic books for inspiration since the very invention of comic books. A new book, covered in the NY Times, talks about artist Jerry Robinson and the invention of the Joker, one of the all-time great comic book villains. 'If a hero is only as good as his opponent, then the creation of the Joker cannot be underestimated. “Villains, I always thought, were more interesting,” Mr. Robinson said. He learned from his studies that some characters were built on their contradictions, so he decided that his evildoer would have a sense of humor. “I think the name came first: the Joker,” he said. “Then I thought of the playing card.”' More...

The history of the written word

A new exhibit covers the invention of writing. In fact, it was invented independently four times. Interesting. '[Exhibit curator Christopher] Wood said writing came about so bureaucracies and businesses could keep track of trades, herds of animals, production of beer and the labor pool for constructing large, monumental buildings. "Most people in those days worked for religious temples, so incomes had to be kept track of and paid, and the only way of keeping track of so many people and transactions was to record the information."' More...

Audrey Niffenegger interview

The Telegraph offers a nice portrait of the multifaceted author of The Time Traveler's Wife. Why, you may wonder, does she have those human skeletons in the house? 'When I moved in all the neighbours came round very kindly and they said, 'Do you have kids?’ and I said no, and they said, 'What does your husband do?’ And I said, well, I don’t really have one, and they said, 'Well, do you have dogs?’ and I said, no, I have cats, and so that was the end of me, you know.' More...

The Big Thrill

The October edition is live. We've mentioned this site before, but it's worth mentioning again. If you're a thriller fan, you should be on board with them. Check 'em out.