I'm tempted by this book of photographs of classified military sites, despite the participation of Rebecca Solnit. (Via.)
Karen Tei Yamashita's I Hotel was already on my list, but it just climbed up to the top due to this interview in Bookslut.
While the glut of books on folk music generally doesn't interest me, Wm. Roy's new book on folk, race, and social movements seems tempting, in part because I have some general level of trust in Princeton U. Press. We'll see.
Bret Easton Ellis reflects on writing American Psycho over at Da Guardian. Some of it is interesting, but there's also a remarkable tango of disavowal and disassociation in BEE's literary ethics/politics:
Writing is an emotional process. When I'm figuring things out in the early days of the novel, the narrator's voice and sensibility and mindset seem to take over. I'm often surprised at the choices they make and the way they want to tell their story; even though I'm in control as the technician, they are still the heart of the book and I follow their lead. I didn't expect American Psycho to become as violent as it ultimately did, but the more time I spent with Bateman the more I realised what roads he was going to be going down and it made sense to me. The violent passages were difficult to write and I concentrated on them in the two-week period after I had finished the bulk of the book, using criminology text books to help me with some of the more graphic descriptions. They were upsetting to write, but this is what happens when you form a partnership with the person whose story you are telling together. (Emphasis added.)Umm, okay, but who "they," kemosabe?
Please contrast with Liz Phair's description of her new whackadoodle album:
You were never supposed to hear these songs. These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep.What's that sound like you wonder?
Yes, I rapped one of them. Im as surprised as you are. But here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but dont mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens.
This is my journey. Ill keep sending you postcards.
