Book News
by Lewis, August 3, 2006 12:56 PM
Orange Prize-winning author Lionel Shriver writes an article for the Guardian about how difficult it is to get a good cover design. She takes umbrage at computer generated design as opposed to original art like a drawing or painting and writes "I fear that, like so many recent art school graduates, most of these technologically nimble professionals do not know how to draw." I'd say Shriver's award-wining We Need To Talk about Kevin's jacket art illustrates her point beautifully. - The LA Times reports that Stephen King and John Irving have made a plea to J.K. Rowling not to kill off Harry Potter. Rowling wasn't making any promises but pointed out that the two of them had killed off many more characters that she has ever done. (By the way ? aren't these French Sorciers just adorable!)
- And I feel compelled to point you to this fascinating story about a scientific imaging team that has found hidden writings of Archimedes within an ancient palimpsest. Tomorrow Stanford University will be running a live webcast which will feature scientists and scholars discussing their findings and what they reveal.
- Today the New York Times provides a riveting review of the biography of Alice B. Sheldon, otherwise known as the science-fiction author James Tiptree, Jr. The quotes that Janet Maslin uses here are classic. "Anyone who shoots a real gun at you when drunk and angry is simply not husband material, regardless of his taste in literature," Sheldon said of her first husband. Just a glimpse of Sheldon's life provided here makes me anxious to read more.
- And while this is news for literary scholars apparently, any Black Adder fan can quite easily picture Dr. Johnson secretly abandoning his dictionary for a while there.
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