In 1975, a woman named P. M. Doucé, believing a psychic who told her she was “the conduit for the posthumous creations of none other than T. S. Eliot,” self-published a book of poems called Incredible Alliance. . . . The Rumpus interviews Sam Lipsyte on the publication date of his new novel, The Ask. (Second Pass review coming soon-ish.) Find out about whom Lipsyte hilariously says, “He’s doing groundbreaking blurb work.” . . . Meredith Blake summarizes the history of opinions about Eva Braun, Hitler’s boo, and looks at a new book that “tackles some of the more persistent Braun myths head-on.” . . . The Believer has announced the list of finalists for its annual book award. . . . An art student designed four lovely covers for Jules Verne novels. . . . The book world’s version of March Madness, the Morning News’ Tournament of Books, is right around the corner. (My choice for best first-round matchup: Wells Tower vs. Nicholson Baker.) To get us ready, Andrew Seal crunches some stats from past tourneys for clues to this year’s possible results. . . . The Los Angeles Times is granted a rare visit with John McPhee. . . . This has nothing to do with books, but it seems worth noting that the recent earthquake in Chile may have shortened the average day on Earth by 1.26 milliseconds.
Tuesday March 2nd, 2010