"An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s."

J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey.  Salinger died two years ago today. (via doubledaybooks)

Being Blog:

A striking example of an inquiring mind manifesting itself in elaborate marginalia for James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.

(beingvisual, via uncertaintimes)

~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Yet another giant reading list

(Note to self, read more. Much, much more)

"Backward, gazing at a point in the distance, but moving away from it, walking straight toward the unknown."

The best way to walk? From Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Decectives.

A letter to Charles Green Shaw from H.L. Mencken, in list form. I especially like #3:

My favorite drinks, in order, are: beer in any form, Moselle, Bergundy, Chianti, gin and ginger-beer, and rye whiskey. I use Swedish punch only as a cocktail flavor. I dislike Scotch and seldom drink it. It makes me vaguely uneasy. I also dislike Rhine wine, save the very best. I never have a head-ache from drink. It fetches me by giving me pains of the legs. When I get stewed I go to sleep, even in the presence of womeen and clergymen.

From archivist Liza Kirwin’s Lists. More lists from Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Pablo Picasso, and Eero Saarinen at The Morning News.

walkwhilereading:

This is the only official illustration of Holden Caulfield, printed in Collier Magazine in the 1945 Christmas Issue. Apparently JD Salinger had started writing what would end up being The Catcher in the Rye some 10 years before the books official publication. [via]

Paul Sahre’s entry for The Nabokov Collection

Every so often, a dream project lands on your desk. Here’s one: redesign Vladimir Nabokov’s book covers. All twenty-one of them. Let me rephrase. Every so often the most daunting project of your entire life arrives on your desk. 

Includes entries from Chip Kidd, Dave Eggers, Marian Bantjes, and several others.

Endorsement: Small Chair and the McSweeney’s iPhone Application

I’ll be honest: I’m kind of a self-hating iPhone owner. Ok, maybe not self-hating, but I do make a concerted effort to avoid flaunting my little pocket gem — both in real life and on the Internet. However, I’m breaking my own rule for this: McSweeney’s just released an iPhone application, and I think it’s quite wonderful.

But it’s not just the beautifully designed little software package I’m enamored with, it’s this thing they’re doing called Small Chair. The price of the application ($5.99) also gets you a six month subscription to Small Chair, which is essentially a McSweeney’s imprint for the iPhone. I just finished reading Wells Tower’s short story “Raw Water” on the bus today, and next week I’ve been promised a Spike Jonze short film featuring Where the Wild Things author Maurice Sendak.

Admittedly, I’ve been a sucker for anything Dave Eggers has touched since I finished reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and this is certainly no exception.

(Photo from the website of Russel Quinn, the talented fellow who pitched, designed, and developed the McSweeney’s application)

walkwhilereading:

True dat. [via]