Tag Archives: Jonathan Franzen

The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Jonathan Franzen’s “10 rules for novelists”: The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator. Fiction that isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn’t worth writing for anything but money. Never use the … Continue reading →

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Frosted Murakami

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

A big h/t to Brooklyn writer/blogger/cartoonist Kate Gavino for these wonderful literary breakfast cereals.

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Little Failure

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I generally ignore video book trailers, and I’m not much of a memoir reader, but I’m a big fan of Gary Shteyngart‘s novels ( and his wacky book trailers) so I watched this one. The amusing, self-deprecating trailer for Shteyngart’s new … Continue reading →

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