Book Page calls Melissa Senate’s new novel, The Breakup Club, “A delightful slice of life of the newly single trying to make it in Manhattan. A treat!” Melissa dropped by for Literary Soundtrack, to tell us what she was listening to while she wrote the novel, which was just released by Red Dress Ink. While writing The Breakup Club, I was obsessed with a song by Gillian Welch called “Miss Ohio.†Which goes something like: “Oh me oh my oh, look at Miss Ohio, she’s a running around with the rag top down. Says she wants to do right...
Literary soundtrack
What authors were listening to when they wrote their books.
war: what is it good for…
Questionable poetry in the news on two fronts these days: 1. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second mate, can be heard reciting poetry to inspire his disciples on an audiotape that’s been making the rounds of terrorist websites. The title of the poem apparently translates as “Tears in the Eyes of Time.” Hmmm, has he been spinning a few too many Simple Minds records? Perhaps Tears for Fears? 2. Meanwhile, FEMA for kids prepares younguns for disasters, natural and otherwise, with this spiffy rap: “Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere, But we’ve got a few tips, so...
sheila curran’s literary soundtrack
A new feature here at Sans Serif will be Literary Soundtrack, in which writers reveal what they were listening to while writing their latest books. Sheila Curran, author of the debut novel Diana Lively is Falling Down, which received a starred review from Booklist (“Curran’s novel gently reminds readers that fantasy has a place in everyone’s life…”) gets a lift from those folks who made the audacious 80s videos featuring David Byrne’s wickedly oversized suits: I’m somewhat of a musical imbecile so I tend to get titles wrong for much of what I listen to…as well as the lyrics…A...
mama smarts
Andi Buchanan, managing editor of the hip online mama mag Literary Mama, has a new book out, Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined, which she co-edited with Amy Hudock (Seal Press, Jan. 2006). This compendium of work gleaned from the magazine features well-known and beginning writers tackling motherhood from many different angles, from adoption and miscarriage to gender identity and generational rifts. Read the introduction here. I’m particularly pleased to blog about this offering from a member of the Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit, as I’m a big fan of Literary Mama. Disclaimer: they recently ran a story of mine,...
The international bestseller about one woman’s search for a missing child…
"Mesmerizing." ~Library Journal, starred review.
Stop dreaming, start writing!
