WORDS: Gatz

I once sat through eight hours of theatre in one day. It was not fun. But I think I'd be willing to give it another go after reading The New York Times critic Ben Brantley's review of the Elevator Repair Service's production of Gatz - a seven-hour play in which the entire text of The Great Gatsby is read, word for word.

Why would I do this? I guess because the magic of Gatsby - for me - is completely tied up in its language. To read it aloud is a pleasure, and to hear a pro do it sounds like a treat. Kinda.

Details here.

WORDS: Drink What You Know

When you think about it, rules for drinking are not so different from rules for writing. Many of these are so familiar they’ve become truisms: Write what you know. Write every day. Never use a strange, fancy word when a simple one will do. Always finish the day’s writing when you could still do more. With a little adaptation these rules apply just as well for drinking. Drink what you know, drink regularly rather than in binges, avoid needlessly exotic booze, and leave the table while you can still stand.
--Geoff Nicholson

I finally started watching Mad Men. I definitely dig the pretty clothes and all that, but I'm more impressed by how much those guys drink at work.

The brilliant little excerpt above is from a piece that ran in The New York Times earlier this summer. It is an absolute must read.

Find it here.

WORDS: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen established himself as a great American novelist with his 2001 National Book Award winner, The Corrections. His highly anticipated follow up, Freedom, will be released on August 31, and the critics have spoken - this is the greatest American novel ever written. Ever.

Well, not all of the critics have spoken. But the notoriously harsh New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani has, and she LOVES this thing.

Calling Freedom "a compelling biography of a dysfunctional family and an indelible portrait of our times," Kakutani delivers one of the most sparkling reviews I've ever read. Sure, she sort of pans everything else Franzen has written up to this point, but in sum-total her critique is an absolute apotheosis of both him and his new book.

It may sound as though I'm sort of poking fun at Kakutani, but I'm not. Hers is a brilliant piece of writing. She points out all that Franzen gets right - and, if we're to believe her, he seems to get it all right - without fawning over him. That is so hard to do well. And nice to see, I think.

Check out the review here.

An excerpt from the novel via The Times, here.

And another excerpt from the novel via The New Yorker, here.

WORDS: Slash and Burn

A very cool poem from The New Yorker this week.

Russian Girl on Parizska
At twenty, you hold this street's attention
better than the Bolshoi could -
the boots, the perfume, not to mention
the bling and ermine on your hood.

The way you walk is slash and burn.
Like understatement's now a crime.
You leave a wake of men who turn
to make sure they were right the first time.

They're like small countries who betray
their old allegiances ahwile.
Bound over you as your vassals, they
blame others when they go on trial.

You yawn, head for a brasserie -
all gold and mirrors, lit like Christmas -
and join the two men drinking tea,
dressed in black suits, who mean business.

-Justin Quinn