What kind of books will emerge from the 2012 presidential election? The Los Angeles Times wagers that in addition to narratives about the race itself, the internal collapse to the Republican party, and emergence of Latinos as a major voting bloc, “there’s also a good biography waiting to emerge from the second big story of last night’s election: how gay marriage and gay rights moved to the mainstream of American politics.”
At the New Yorker, music critic Alex Ross celebrates this election's gay-rights victories in an addendum to his excellent and eloquent essay on gay rights and culture, which we strongly recommend. (Also, at the magazine's Culture Desk blog: Ross discusses gay culture and assimilation with Hilton Als.
Tom Robbins, the author who brought us novels such as Jitterbug Perfume and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, is writing his memoir, which will be published by Ecco in 2014. From the press release: “Tibetan Peach Pie isn’t exactly your normal memoir, but from the worn hills of Appalachia to the heights of the best-seller lists; from America’s psychedelic underground to the backstreets of Asia, the savannas of Africa, and the studios of the art world, it does lift the curtain on a succession of highly personal magical mystery peep shows.”
Michael Dirda, Bookforum contributor and “the best-read man in America,” reveals his habits as a book-buyer.
“Why is it that in YA literature—a genre generated entirely to describe the transition to adulthood—there is so much fear and ambivalence surrounding manhood?” Sarah Mesle investigates at the Los Angeles Review of Books.
