Rick Gekoski's article about the Man Booker Prize gives you a real sense of the importance of British literary awards—or perhaps just the self-importance of authors nominated for them. Either way, the famously malcontent author Thomas Bernhard would have a field day mocking the pompousness (though he'd probably pocket the prize money anyway).
Music fans will have the satisfaction of seeing Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards read from his forthcoming autobiography, Life, at the New York Public Library on October 29th, leaving us to wonder not just how he's survived this long, but also how he can remember enough to write a book. Jay-Z will also appear in the library's hallowed halls this fall (on November 15th) to discuss his life-story, Decoded; hopefully, the rapper unburdened himself of at least some of his "99 Problems" through the catharsis of writing a memoir.
At Publisher's Weekly, Andrew Albanese asks how Google's unsettling shift on the issue of net neutrality will affect the pending Google Books settlement. Google has joined Verizon in advocating a tiered Internet scheme (where you would pay more for "premium" content), a sharp departure from Google's former stance of supporting a free Internet, and an apparent violation of its "Don't be Evil" policy. We can only speculate, but perhaps the free Google books would feature first-draft classics such as The Appeasing of the Shrew and Darn Good Expectations, while the premium version would have only "Better Book Titles."
From Vivian Darkbloom (Vladimir Nabokov) to Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), we love a good pen name, but our passion for pseudonyms can't match Fernando Pessoa, the Portuguese author who compiled seventy-two aliases. Flavorpill looks at Pessoa's work through four of his literary personas.
