New Kid on the blog

Maud Newton has been around for ages, apparently, and I am only just discovering her literary themed blog now. I also love her "about" section: "

"Maud Newton was born in Dallas, to a southern father and Texan mother. At two, she moved to Miami, Florida, where she was often mistaken for a tourist because of her pallid complexion. She attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she studied writing with Padgett Powell and Harry Crews, and then, for lack of a better plan, went to law school. Now, having abandoned the practice of law, she lives in New York City, where she works as an editor and writer for Thomson Reuters."

Enjoy.

Do's and Don'ts

A guide to writing fiction - writers have given 10 rules they believe important when composing fiction. Not sure if I agree with every single one, but interesting to see how this mirrors each author's style.
Again, I note the return to the list.

One of many literary-themed posts to celebrate the upcoming world book day.
Enjoy.

Camus

Controversy over Camus.

The art of travel

A really spectacular extract about Somerset Maugham. 
Well written travel writing is really one of my favourite genres.

Journeys

Travel writing is a genre I really enjoy (of course, when it is badly written it is a disaster, but when well written it is an absolute pleasure).

Don Watson's American Journeys sounds like a great read.

Another book I want to read

Generation A by Douglas CouplandDouglas Coupland might so easily have written his latest novel as an airport thriller, says Toby Litt

Literary Genius

Re-Entering the 'First Circle' A great article on a great authour, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Food for thought

TOWARDS the end of 2006, the academic Tony Judt found himself at the centre of, depending on your point of view, a political tempest or a storm in a teacup. Due to speak at the Polish consulate in New York, the event was cancelled following telephone calls from the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, who reacted as if the Poles had invited a smashed Mel Gibson to speak on the subject of international Jewry. This, said some, was a straw in the wind - evidence of the power of the "Israel lobby" of which Judt was notoriously critical. Others, among them Christopher Hitchens, saw it as a fart in the wind - evidence of little more than the hysteria and self-pity of the anti-lobbyists.