Catch all for 10.6.08

John Self's review of Monsieur Monde Vanishes sparks a debate about which of Simenon's thousands of books to read next.

Terry Teachout makes us wish we were in Chicago to see this revival of Karel Capek's R.U.R. (which introduced the word "robot" to the world): "Strawdog's R.U.R. is a major revival of a play that turns out to be far more than a mere historical curiosity."

Farewell to The Sun and to the profane and wonderful enotes book blog. Someone hire Ben Lytal and Shane Mehling right this minute!

John Collier—just like Ray Bradbury, but "witty and sardonic and mean." Right on Ken Jennings! looks like you're not such a dummy after all.

I09 declares The Anatomy of Melancholy one of "The Longest Science Fiction Books of All Time." Never thought of it that way, but we'll buy that it "was the template for much experimentation in early speculative fiction" and that "Burton's analysis of his own mind and body was revolutionary in itself, connecting science directly with fiction."

If you're looking for a fictional pub crawl, you might want to start with The Midnight Bell, where much of the action of Patrick Hamilton's boozy Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky takes place.

Fort Greene may be the site of Brooklyn's next independent bookstore. Please write to Jessica or Rebecca with offers of retail space or cold hard cash.

What is Colin Firth reading...?

NYRB Classics: bringing together literate waitresses and "Victor Serge fanboys" since the other week. Also: how the predicaments of Soviet agents mirror that of politicians in St. Louis.

Susan Bernofsky (you may know her as Robert Walser's translator and soon-to-be biographer) has a blog.