Goodbye, Shanghai!

Tonight is our last night in the city. So long, Shanghai, I'll miss you. I spent more than two years in China, including my first year and a half of married life. I made a lot of great friends, had a lot of harrowing adventures, learned a lot of new things, and most importantly, became a little more good-natured, patient, and fearless. And I even got a book out of it.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be living back in my native Los Angeles - stay tuned!

I was very pleased to wake up this morning amid bubble wrap and boxes to find myself on McSweeneys. Now I'm officially one of the cool kids, at least for today.

Check out Susana Raab and her Etsy storefront, where she sells photos of the desks of William Faulker, Flannery O' Connor, and Eudora Welty. I'd love to hang the Faulkner one in my home office.

Why, how unlikely!

Thanks to Aubrey for TEN new pairs of Unlikely Animal Friends!

DailyLit

Great web find: DailyLit. Sign up for daily RSS feeds or emails and read classic literature or reference materials a segment a day. Or read Wikipedia! I just signed up for two Wiki feeds, Greek Mythology and Wine 101.

I am absolutely delighted to have two poems published in DIAGRAM issue 8.2.

Now I've published a poem about a cat on the internet.

Check out my interview with award-winning Australian novelist Gail Jones in January Magazine (where I'm now a Contributing Editor).

You know what's funnier than hearing a joke once?

Hearing it twice!

Check out "Some Excerpts from the Lonely Planet Master Guide" on Monkeybicycle.

Excerpt from "The Magical Chorus"

One more from the NYT, an excerpt from Solomon Volkov's The Magical Chorus, a new book on 20th century Russian literature.

NYT Book Review China Issue

This Sunday's New York Times book review is all China. Some links:

Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem
Wang Anyi's The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
Yan Lianke's Serve the People!

and a piece of "China's Pop Fiction."

Out of print? Rescue it!

Vote to bring back your favorite books here!

The UK's Faber Books is starting a new imprint, Faber Finds, that will be ferreting out great old neglected titles and giving them a second chance.

In this weekend's Guardian, notable authors submit their own votes.

Californians, check out Felicia's new book

My very talented friend Felicia Sullivan (of Small Spiral Notebook) will be reading from her first book, The Sky Isn't Visible From Here, at three bookstores in California. And as a bonus, she will be bringing baked goods!

For more information about both the book and the baked goods, go here.

Wednesday, May 7—SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, 7:00 pm

Friday, May 9—LOS ANGELES, CA–Booksoup, 8818 W Sunset Blvd., 7:00 pm

Saturday, May 10–PASADENA, CA– Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., 4:00 pm