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LitNotes: An Award, A Freebie, and A Dream
November 16, 2007

Better Get Reading: Yesterday I asked Michael Dirda what book he hasn't read yet that he should have, and he told me that he still hasn't picked up Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke. Neither have I... that galley has been in my closet for too long, and now that Johnson's novel has won the National Book Award, I think I know two critics who will be picking it up shortly.

"What About the Small, Bald Authors?": Brad Meltzer -- best-selling novelist, comic-book author, and all-around mensch -- emailed yesterday to tell me about his new iTunes freebie. For the next week on iTunes, audio book lovers can download free copies of his thriller The Millionaires, read by Scott Brick.  No catch.  Nothing to buy.  Just go to iTunes.com and click a button.  Brad muses, "Following in the steps of Radiohead and Moby, I kept asking myself: 'What about the small, bald authors?' Sure, they had singers and rock stars covered, but what about the authors? Plus, they put me on the homepage.  My mother called all her friends, screaming, "There he is!  Right next to Bob Dylan!"

Calgon, Take Me Away: You can have your eco-vacations, your dive trips, and your cruises. As far as I'm concerned, a perfect vacation would be a couple of weeks at a small, cozy hotel near St. James's Square so that I could rise at leisure, eat a full English breakfast, and then head to The London Library for the day. "The Reading Room is the most homely place imaginable. It was made for sleep (there was once a panic that a member had died in his armchair, but it turned out that he always slept with his eyes open), and the company, on waking, is exceptionally fine, especially if Tom Stoppard happens to be gazing down on you."
 
Something to read, something to listen to, something to dream about... my weekend is full. I hope yours are, too.

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on November 16, 2007 | Comments (0)