Nov

28

Love In Blume.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Rich, devoted part of each day to reading to the entire class. We’d squat down on the carpet around her desk and listen. There were only two authors I remember who got the honor of having more than one of their books read. One was Roald Dahl. The other was [...]

Nov

21

Is There Anybody Out There?

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 21, 2007 | 3 Comments

The December issue of Discover magazine calls scientist David Charbonneau the “scientist of the year” for research he’s done, but, strangely enough, the honor is being conferred mainly for what his research might reveal, not what it’s already uncovered. They’re not exaggerating when they compare the discovery of extraterrestrial life to Copernicus’s theory that the [...]

Nov

16

Take My Advice.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 16, 2007 | 1 Comment

Dear Abby, Dear Abby …
My feet are too long
My hair’s falling out and my rights are all wrong
My friends they all tell me that I’ve no friends at all
Won’t you write me a letter, Won’t you give me a call
Signed Bewildered
Bewildered, Bewildered…
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So [...]

Nov

12

Book ‘Em: Beyond Good And Grendel.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment

One-thousand years (give or take a few centuries) after an anonymous poet wrote the epic Beowulf, the novelist, critic, translator, and short-story writer John Gardner wrote Grendel, a strange novel which gives us the story from the monster’s perspective. Gardner’s prose is heavy with adjectives and past-participles which helps give concreteness to Grendel’s stream-of-consciousness. The [...]

Nov

9

Beowulf.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

In an interview on G4 television’s Attack Of The Show, scriptwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary said they’d never heard that Beowulf is a kind of Hollywood joke until they’d started working on a script. Other filmmakers have tried to bring Beowulf to the big screen, one of the most recent efforts being director Sturla [...]

Nov

7

Uncommon Sense.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 7, 2007 | 2 Comments

Conventional wisdom holds that there are four tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. The other day on NPR, though, it was reported that there’s a fifth taste, one that’s a little harder to define but which is currently being called “umami”, which is a Japanese word meaning “deliciousness”. And it’s fitting that it would be [...]

Nov

5

Book ‘Em: Words, Words, Words.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment

He may best be known for his book Wonder Boys, which was adapted into a film with Michael Douglas as a shambling wreck of a college professor, or his 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, but Michael Chabon is a prolific and wide-ranging author. Most recently [...]

Nov

2

The New Curiosity Shop.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 2, 2007 | 1 Comment

The recently opened Sherlock’s Book Emporium & Curiosities, in Lebanon, Tennessee, is, in many ways, itself a curiosity. While owner Steve Guynn opened his first bookstore as a way of getting his expanding book collection out of his house, the new 14,000-square foot store offers new books, used books, DVDs, board games, action figures, comic [...]