Should Size Matter?

Should Size Matter?

Amélie Nothomb claims to have written 56, and if Ian McEwan ever decides to write one as good as his first, I might forgive him the books in between.

North American publishers won't touch it, readers resent paying full price for it, and though our obsession with length seeks to permanently seal the gap between short story and novel, the novella remains a stubbornly tense, terse and sparky form, one that refuses to bag, sag, babble or bore -- so, how about it, are we up for a challenge?

Confronting the Canon

Confronting the Canon

A recent article on tackling Ulysses put me in mind of my own reading gaps - Don Quixote, War and Peace, Moby Dick - don't worry, there are plenty more.

Back in 2001, I read Swann's Way, the first volume of Proust's À la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Captivated by its brilliance, I bought the complete six-volume box set, determined to devour the epic in one continuous swallow. But that didn't happen. To make matters worse, I now barely remember volume one.

Luckily, contrition loves company: writers and critics confess their gravest sins of literary omission.

Spring Is In The Air

Spring Is In The Air

And a girl's thoughts turn to false memoir admissions and charges of plagiarism.

First, this woman didn't live with a pack of wolves, and now, this woman doesn't know her Bloods from her Crips.

Incidentally, the "Margaret B. Jones" book was published by Riverhead, the same imprint that published this whack-job's memoir. His novel is due out in May; get the plagiarism software ready.

At least the poets aren't doing it, right? Oh, I can't resist: an absolute gem from the archives.

Update: NPR offers a panel discussion on why and how literary fraud happens.