Books – Page 8 – The Official Site of Jim Snowden

I Get My Ideas From Notions and Lotions–An Artisanal Idea and Skin Care Shop In Medina

By jim_snowden March 21, 2013Books

Rebecca Makkai over at the Ploughshares blog surveyed writers about questions they're always asked with a view towards suggesting more compelling alternatives, and it's true that these questions are evergreens.…

Location, Location, Location: Fiction and the Anthropic Principle

By jim_snowden March 11, 2013Books, Writing

Nichole Bernier's blog post on locations and their impact on fiction got me thinking about the settings in my own work and why I picked them. Bernier starts her post…

What Is to Be Done About Book Reviews?

By jim_snowden March 8, 2013Books, Criticism

Apparently, Talking Points Memo is kicking around the idea of doing book reviews, and Josh Marshall, TPM's lord asked the following ask on Twitter mere minutes ago: I have…

When Should An Author Retire?

By jim_snowden February 28, 2013Books, Writing

Alexander Nazaryan's review of Jim Crace's Harvest raised the question of when an author should hang it up. Crace's answer appears to be that authors should find something else to do…

Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?

By jim_snowden February 13, 2013Books, Movies, The Larger World, Writing

I'm still picking at parts of Summer of Long Knives. Some of it feels necessary, but a good deal of it is neurosis. It's usually at this point that I become convinced…

Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?

By jim_snowden February 1, 2013Books, Television, The Larger World

--I'm afraid none of my habits conform to those of the famous writers in this article in the Atlantic. My habits bear a closer resemblance to those of Franz Kafka, a…

My J.J. Abrams Impression

By jim_snowden January 27, 2013Books, Writing

Watch this space carefully over the next few days, for it is here that I might reveal something about something that may nor may not be significant about a project…

Psst, Buddy. A New MMIP Book is Out. Pass it on.

By jim_snowden January 22, 2013Books

My little company did this. There'll be Kindle, Nook, and Audiobook versions in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes open. In the meantime, buy this, have someone buy it…

Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?

By jim_snowden January 19, 2013Books, Criticism, Sports, The Larger World

--I'm neutral to the (deleted) scene of Castle Dracula's collapse at the end of Dracula. The book ends acceptably enough as it stands. (The reason Stoker gave for cutting it was he…

My Advice to Young Writers

By jim_snowden January 17, 2013Books, Writing

Been away doing literary editor stuff. (To MMIP fans--all two of them--soon my pets, soon.) Now that I'm back, let's get into what I've been pondering: Jeffrey Eugenides's Advice To Young…