Yesterday, Bwog staffer Lucy Tang sat in on the Future of Book Reviews panel and realized that all Columbia arguments center around elitism. Panelists: Steve Wasserman (former editor of the Los Angeles Book Review) Peter Osnos (founder and editor at large of PublicAffairs) Elizabeth Sifton (editor and senior vice president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux) […]

In which Bwog freelancer Rob Trump, who brought you a Chabon review and enlightened July 4 commentary, learns to love America. Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but for the last few years I have been thoroughly sick of hearing, talking, and thinking about 9/11.  I was tired of pop-sociology articles and works of art […]

Previously, on the Joy Luck Book Club: Marisha Pessl’s merits as author and as hottie were debated. In this week’s episode, certified hottie Dave Eggers presents What is the What, and the J.L.B.C. convenes, gin cocktails in hand, to their secret clubhouse somewhere in the outer boroughs… Reading Rainbow! Dan: Dave Eggers is famous for […]

In which Bwog freelancer Justin Goncalves reviews the newest egg from an odd duck.   Before reading No one belongs here more than you, I fell in love with Miranda July.  I was prepared to steal her away from her boyfriend (Thumbsucker director Mike Millis) and live with her in Portland. She would stay upstairs, […]

In which recovering V-Show writer Rob Trump reflects on Michael Chabon’s latest effort. In 2002, Michael Chabon lashed out against the modern short story, claiming that publications like The New Yorker are filled with nothing but the “quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory story.”  He did this in a McSweeney’s compendium, no less, giving the hipster literati […]

For most, summer is a season for skimpy bikinis and cold Coronas, or whatever those zany teenagers do these days. Along with such activities, Bwog staffers Lucy Tang and Daniel D’Addario will while away these months of freedom in (partial) devotion to literary pursuits, and then discussing these books in a nifty little feature called “Joy Luck […]

Looking to pick up some summer reading?  The woman at the desk of Partners and Crime, in the East Village, told Bwog reporter Emma Jacobs that Manhattan’s bookshop scene’s just not what it used to be–but we didn’t believe her.  You can still find some of the best bookshops around hanging in on Manhattan to […]

Sometimes, when you feel like everything in life is passing its judgment on you, it helps to do a little judging yourself. The following is Bwog correspondent CML’s pilgrimage to the Bookstore in search of superficial literary gratification. Putting an iPod through the wash and receiving one of those “What are you doing with your […]

First, find a partner and align the soles of your feet together in Bokononist ritual: Kurt Vonnegut dies at age 84. “Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”- Cold Turkey “Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected.” – Slaughterhouse V […]

Last night in London, it was announced that Kiran Desai, a creative writing MFA student at our fair University, has won the Man Booker Prize for fiction.  From the press release: “Her winning book, The Inheritance of Loss, is a radiant, funny and moving family saga and has been described by reviewers as ‘the best, […]

More stuff you shouldn’t have saved on public computers.  When the buzz gets a little throat, a little brass, a little sass—now we know it’s becoming a man. Not like a cheesy, wheezy clarinetist typing the Hora at the day’s third Bar Mitzvah reception. It’s starting to burst, like a cavalry’s accompaniment, sans jingoism.   […]

Bwogger Anna Corke reports from work-study in the Art History department…  There is a stack of give-away fine art posters on a table by the girl’s bathroom on the 8th floor of Schermerhorn. Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, others. Some are ripped, but would still make good editions to boring dorm rooms. And Izumi Devalier chimes in […]

If they haven’t already, Generation ’10 will soon recieve a slick new copy of the Iliad, courtesy of some alumni class from the last fifty years. Unless they decide to buck tradition, its cover will feature a lovely classical painting now hanging in L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Slate, however, has proposed the alternative […]

Bwog correspondent Brendan Ballou reports: I think I just saw him in Morningside Park, wearing a black sweater and black sunglasses. It would make sense, since he’s probably starting his book tour, and I remember some scenes from The Professor of Desire take place in Morningside. Besides, if it isn’t him, someone can make an […]

Can you lead a perfectly successful and happy life even if you’ve never read about Leopold Bloom masturbating on a Dublin beach? Everyone has that book (or those books) that they probably should have read by now, but have not. Professors, we hypothesized, are no different. So we asked them to name the book they […]