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In New Novel, Youngblood, the Iraq War is a Ghost Story

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A new novel from Greenpoint-based author, Matt Gallagher (Photo: Nicole Disser)

A new novel from Greenpoint-based author, Matt Gallagher (Photo: Nicole Disser)

I’d just barely cracked Matt Gallagher’s debut novel, Youngblood, and, to my surprise, I was really, sincerely into it. Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite movies happen to be war films (see: Apocalypse Now and MASH) and who can argue that Cormac McCarthy’s descriptions of carnage aren’t some of the more beautiful, vivid bits of contemporary English language literature? But when it comes to the War on Terror, usually I prefer to take my cultural output as dry as it gets.

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Jessamyn Hope Kibitzes About Her Kibbutz Novel, Safekeeping

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Jessamyn Hope

Jessamyn Hope

“I’m so happy with the cover. I really didn’t want it to be some woman’s sandals in the sand,” says Jessamyn Hope of her new novel Safekeeping, which launches tonight at Book Court in Brooklyn.
Over coffee at Yonah Schimmel, Hope explained that because she’s a female author and her book involves romance, she was concerned it would be labeled “chick lit” — a term that doesn’t begin to encompass the expansive themes in her saga of six characters who meet at a kibbutz in Israel in 1994. The characters —  including an old Zionist Socialist, an Israeli teenager injured in a terrorist attack, and a beautiful Soviet émigré — are all in search of identity and safe harbor from the storm of their personal crises. Interspersed with their stories is the history of a medieval brooch that provides glimpses into turbulent moments in Jewish history.
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Open Wide for Mouthfeel, a Queer-Punk-Food Mag That Goes Deeper

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inside Mouthfeel issue #1

inside Mouthfeel issue #1

When first you glance at Mouthfeel and prepare to take it all in, you might think: it couldn’t get more niche than this. And in some ways, you might be right. A food magazine dedicated to queer identity and hardcore punk complete with recipes and sexy photos of dudes? Huh. That’s a first. But even if you’re not a pansexual chef who fronts a band called the Putrid Ooze Squad in whatever spare time you’ve got after prepping kohlrabi espuma all day, this magazine will probably be quite attractive to you.

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James Franco Is Sliding Down the Strand’s Chimney

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(Photo: James Franco's Facebook)

(Photo: James Franco’s Facebook)

Want to sit in James Franco’s lap?

We’re not sure he’ll let you do that (not after that slip-up with the 17-year-old) but he has donned a Santa suit in anticipation of his appearance at The Strand next Monday, December 8. “I’ll sign for ALL comers!” he promises on Facebook.
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They Hate Us For Our Tweedom: a Closer Read of Marc Spitz’s Twee

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MarcSpitzTweeThe grandiose blurbs on the back cover of Marc Spitz’s Twee promise the reader a book that will analyze “the most polarizing and important youth movement since hop-hop,” and one that will do so “in the same way that Douglas Coupland branded Generation X.” Well, that would have sold me, even if I weren’t being paid to review it. As someone who still enthusiastically debates the exact moment when grunge became post-grunge, I’m a sucker for philosophizing about What The Kids Are Up To These Days and What It All Means.
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These Brooklyn Literary Zine Publishers Take a Page From the Net

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Gabby Bess at her workspace (Photo: Nicole Disser)

Gabby Bess at her workspace (Photo: Nicole Disser)

Two new issues of established zines from Brooklyn-based writers and curators of the printed word are out and available as of the past few weeks. These aren’t your traditional, black-and-white Xerox zines of yore: their creators, Kristen Felicetti and Gabby Bess, are steeped in net culture and cross pollinate with others in the very with-it Alt Lit scene.
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You’ve Read These Writers on B+B, Now Hear Them Read IRL

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Jesse Sposato.

Jesse Sposato.

We’re proud + pleased to note that a couple of B+B contributors have readings coming up – right in our backyard! Aren’t we friggin’ literary?

Jesse Sposato, whose Urban Campers series you know and love, will be pitching her tent at Cake Shop on May 7 at 7 p.m. She’ll read alongside Julia Fierro (founder of the and the author of the buzzy new novel Cutting Teeth) and Ted Thompson, a Brooklyn writer who also has a new novel, The Land of Steady Habits, out this spring. To top it off, The Grand Affair will play at this installment of the Mixer Reading and Music Series, which brings free music and lit to Cake Shop on the the third(ish) Wednesday of every month.
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Shakespeare & Co.: ‘We’re Not Going Anywhere Until Something Happens’

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(Photo: Jenna Marotta)

(Photo: Jenna Marotta)

Last we checked in with Shakespeare & Co., it wasn’t ready to comment about rumors of a “possible closure.” Now manager Margot Liddell confirms that the bookstore can’t afford the current rent — an undisclosed figure that she said is triple what it used to pay. But it isn’t ready to admit defeat.

“The store has been for rent for a year,” said Liddell, adding that from her count, the landlord has been through at least three realtors. “No one has rented the space. So we’re here until we’re not. We’re not going anywhere until something happens and that’s the truth.”
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Lefty Lions Ralph Nader and Elizabeth Warren Are Plugging New Books

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warrenJust a few days after Chelsea Clinton announced at the Lower Eastside Girls Club that she’ll soon make Bill & Hill grandparents, Liberal Dream Week continues with a pair of progressive pols putting in appearances at Barnes & Noble Union Square.

Tonight at 7 p.m., five-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader will promote his new book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. A bookseller at the store said Nader will most likely give a reading and sign copies.
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