Monday stuff

This (old) Powells interview with Jonathan Lethem is good. It's quite a bit meatier than your normal author interview and has Lethem describing his progression of books. It makes me want to go back and read the rest of his books. I can't decide if I like Motherless Brooklyn or Gun with Occasional Music better. Probably Motherless Brooklyn.

In a way not dissimilar to the discussion of names in Freakonomics, the teacher behind Clapping the Erasers talks about David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise transferred to Bobos in the Bronx. Whatever you think of Brooks's NYT columns, I think you should consider reading Bobos in paradise. His description of the merging of the bohemian and bourgeois mentalities in today's upper middle and middle classes is just excellent.

Thomas Ricks reviews the re-release of A Savage War of Piece. I am glad I picked up my used copy for ten buck as opposed to 150 bucks that Ricks mentions.

The Thirteenth Tale is one of the most successful literary books of the year. I love reviews that allow for the reader's taste. This one from the Telegraph says "The result, depending on your literary tastes, is either dismayingly unoriginal or refreshingly old-fashioned. This reader tended to the latter view."

SFSignal has posted Waterstone's (of the UK) best scifi books of the year. Some are not available here in the US.

It seems it is the season for re-imagining (the new word for remake.) The folks who brought us Battlestar Galactica are now going to try and re-do the Thing, itself redone already. BSG is good enough to make me want to see what they do.

Ian Rankin really, really likes Thomas Pynchon.