Soft Skull publisher and all-around NYC belletrist Richard Nash recently posted a scathing opinion piece on this site about Book Expo America's decision to limit floor hours (and effectively cancel an opening night party) at BEA 2010. This means that book industry's biggest convention--drawing booksellers and publishers...

So you can't go anywhere in New York these days without hearing Jay-Z & Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind" blaring from a window. Naturally they performed it last week at Game 2 of the World Series, causing Derek Jeter to nod his head very slightly, as if skeptical...

William Sleator was one of the very few "YA" authors I loved when I was young. Sleator's novels (mostly sci-fi or surrealist high-concept) are slim enough to be devoured in an afternoon, although I customarily started reading them around midnight and stayed up until early morning to finish....

I am taking a vow of celibacy until the election of the next president, and I encourage you to do likewise. Don't have what reasonable people consider "sex"-- that is, I'm not just going by Bill Clinton's definition here -- before we know whether we've elected Obama or McCain to...

Consider this ad running today at the top of the Drudge Report:

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Paid for by the National Republican Trust PAC, a right-wing hit group, this ad shows Mohamed Atta's driver's license superimposed on a Scary Black Man shot of Barack Obama.

Really,...

The first time I heard the name Sarah Palin, I was about to get on a plane at JFK airport. Yeah, right, I thought. By the time I got off the plane at LAX, she was John McCain's running mate. Oh God, no, I thought. This is awful. She's...

"What does Hillary want?" Nobody can say for sure! (Other than to be President, I mean.) It's the day after Barack's glorious coronation and emotions are running high. Exultant Obama supporters (unlike their classy & magnanimous candidate) are crowing and sending around videos like this (good job putting...

There's not a whole lot to say about this except to just point it out. 49-year-old Kentucky Representative Geoff Davis apparently had this to say about Obama at a GOP dinner in the state:

"I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger...

So when David Paterson gets unexpectedly thrust into office, the first thing he does is talk about all the extramarital sex he's had and the second thing he does is mention that he's done coke. This is brilliant -- get past it and exhibit candor while everyone's still...

Writers are generally a destitute bunch, but there are some exceptions. I amused myself earlier today by looking a bunch of them up on Huffington Post's Fundrace tool to see which candidates they supported with their money. First, click here to see what those identifying their occupation as "novelist"...

There are opportunities we regard with interest, even with longing, that it ultimately seems more comfortable to turn down. We turn them down because of their unfamiliarity, because we are afraid of the risks involved, or because a more conventional path once seemed inevitable and we had already resigned ourselves...

A profoundly affecting moment. The junior Senator chokes back tears as she surveys the spot where the Industrial Canal levee was breached, flooding the Ninth Ward and bringing the great, strange city of New Orleans to its knees...

Oh right, that didn't happen. The tragedy that makes Hillary Clinton's eyes...

About half an hour ago I bought tickets to see No Country for Old Men using fandango.com. Later I logged into Facebook.com (for which I use a different email ID and password) and saw a new entry on my news...

Last night I happened to see Lars and the Real Girl, which engaged and delighted me in a completely unintentional way. The supporting cast -- the adorable Emily Mortimer and Kelli Garner; the great Paul Schneider; the charming-even-when-miscast Patricia Clarkson -- is perfect, but the movie's premise...

When I wrote a post last week about campus cops attacking and tasering a student at John Kerry's University of Florida speaking event, I criticized Kerry's behavior during the incident. The post drew some strong reactions and I want to follow up.

I was startled that so many...

This isn't really a review; consider it a breathless, extemporaneous appreciation. I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford a few hours ago and it doesn't feel like something to sit down and matter-of-factly dissect. God, it's a majestic accomplishment....

By now I'm sure you've seen the videos of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer being attacked and tasered by university police at a John Kerry speaking event. If not, here's one, here's another, and here's another.

The videos (reminiscent of the nasty video from last...

I was bored to hell by 3:10 to Yuma and I can't understand why a lot of people are really enthusiastic about it. I liked the first forty seconds or so -- the title credits are cool, and I felt the anguish and fear of Christian Bale's character (Bale's a...

At 22, Helen Oyeyemi is the internationally acclaimed author of The Icarus Girl and The Opposite House. She is also at work on a third novel, Pie-Kah. Here is an in-depth interview with Oyeyemi about the moral, cultural, and sociopolitical underpinnings of her fiction.

Interview conducted via...

I watched The Bourne Ultimatum last night. It's a pretty spectacular piece of craftsmanship. Damon is convincingly brutal and desperate as the most existential of action film protagonists and the script is solid, but it's really Paul Greengrass who owns this thing and gives it such merciless, jittery energy.

A...