Happy Friday, everyone! Here are a few things we’ve been reading about this week:
The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest was announced on Monday. Named for the author of “It was a dark and stormy night,” the contest honors the worst possible opening sentence to an imaginary novel. The winner was University of Wisconsin professor Sue Fondrie:
Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.
Read more bad writing at HuffPost Books.
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Dave Eggers wrote a portrait on celebrated picture book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) for Vanity Fair. The feature celebrates Sendak’s upcoming book, Bumble-ardy — the first book he has both written and illustrated in 30 years. (We blogged about “a pig who longs to party” back in March.)
The article reads almost like a good-natured argument between Eggers and Sendak over just how fantastic and iconic Sendak’s work is. Read the portrait here.
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The Book Lady’s blog featured a guest post by Augusten Burroughs‘ mother, Margaret Robison, where she talks about how and why she penned The Long Journey Home. After her sons’ best-selling memoirs depicted her as more than a little insane, she shared her own perspective in her March 2011 memoir.
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And last but not least, perhaps my favorite thing this week: Harry Potter as a teen romantic comedy.
(via ‘Thewlis Rox’ @ davidthewlis.net)
Have a wonderful weekend! What are you reading?
