Monday's Body of Work

Hopping Into 2010

Never have we wished for a holiday season to pass quicker than this year’s holiday season. Aside from the endless lists of best this, worse that, aside from the superfluous scrutinizing and condensed compartmentalization of every cultural item, we had the flu. And a bad case of it at that. Not usually prone to week-long illnesses, we slipped into a state of near despair. Chicken noodle soup gets old when it’s all you’ve eaten for days. Anyway, we’re better. Not quite 100%. But close. Some readers might grow nauseous after reading an essay about the golden age of sexual narcissism in the New York Times. But don’t ball your hands into fists just yet, plenty more’s out there, including a moving essay written by numerous writers honoring the authors who died this past decade. Elsewhere, it was a good year for Latin American scribes, Russian literature finds its modern-day diva, and a gathering of notable writers protest the incarceration of  Liu Xiaobo. Finally, J.M Coetzee’s new novel is critiqued by Mark Sarvis, Black Oak Books returns triumphant and Grace Kelly, the actress who turned Jimmy Stewart into pudding, is anthologized in the New Yorker. Stay well, friends. — Kevin Murphy

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