Nicholson baker is a contemporary american writer of fiction and nonfiction. Nicholson baker has 39 books on goodreads with 79076 ratings. Nicholson bakers most popular book is the mezzanine. Going to school with a thousand kids by nicholson baker blue rider press, 719 pp. The book was bakers first new york times bestseller and monica lewinsky gave a copy to president bill clinton when they were having an affair. Nicholson baker didnt expect librarians to act like barbarians but then he learned they were destroying or dumping millions of books and newspapers. He is a contemporary american writer of fiction and nonfiction. In reality, it is a brilliant celebration of things, simultaneously demonstrating the value of reflection and the importance of everyday. Vox by baker, nicholson and a great selection of related books. This exhaustively researched work there are 63 pages of endnotes and 18 pages of references in the paperback edition details. Nicholson baker, substitute teacher the new republic. Nicholson baker is the author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction, including the anthologist, the mezzanine, and human smoke. A 700page account of being a substitute teacher may sound excessive. At first glance, the mezzanine appears to be a book about nothing.
He made a name for himself for constantly criticizing libraries like the san francisco public library for habits such as the unnecessary destruction of paperbased media like old books in favor of microfilm. Bestselling author nicholson baker, in pursuit of the realities of american public education, signed up as a substitute teacher in a maine public school district. In 2009, nicholson baker tried a new way of reading. What nicholson baker learned as a substitute teacher. Nicholson baker was born january 7, 1957 in new york city. Vox is a novel that remaps the territory of sex sex solitary and telephonic, lyrical and profane, comfortable and dangerous. Nicholson baker has gotten a lot of attention with his latest book house of holes, with a host of highfalutin sources extolling its both its literary merit and its overthetop eroticism. Shortcuts nicholson bakers glorious filthfest gives a whole new meaning to the tipping point.
Last may, baker presented his charges at the invitation of the intellectual freedom committee of the librarians guild. He has published ten novels and has written about poetry, literature, history, politics, time manipulation, youth, and sex. He has won the national book critics circle award, the hermann hesse prize, and a katherine anne porter award from the american academy of arts and letters. On it is a heap of books things like john masterss bhowani junction, joan aikens nightbirds on nantucket, grace paleys enormous changes. Bakers new novel, house of holes, which comes out this month, has the apt subtitle a book of raunch and is dirtier than vox and the fermata combined. Nicholson baker was born in 1957 and attended the eastman school of music and haverford college. It is an erotic classic that places nicholson baker firmly in the first rank of major american writers. Nicholson baker s most popular book is the mezzanine. A new york times notable book and a national bestseller, nicholson bakers the anthologist introduces his quirkiest and most unforgettable protagonist yet, the erudite, unpretentious, and often hilarious the new yorker paul chowder. As his trademark, baker places more emphasis on careful characterization and description, with the focus on the inspection of narrators and characters stream of consciousness.
Teachers shouting, students slamming books, announcements gronking out of the loudspeakers the regular racket of a school in nicholson bakers new book, substitute. Nicholson bakers accounts of the ordinary become extraordinary through his sharp storytelling and his unconventional, conversational style. In 2014, after a brief orientation course and a few fingerprinting sessions, nicholson baker became an oncall substitute teacher in a maine public school district. In 1999, he founded the american newspaper repository, a collection of nineteenth and twentiethcentury newspapers.
Born in 1957 in new york city baker got his degree in english from haverford college. He lives with his wife in south berwick, maine, and has two children. Baker has written a novel that remaps the territory of sexsolitary and telephonic, lyrical and profane, comfortable and dangerous. Nicholson baker is the author of nine novels and four works of nonfiction, including double fold, which won a national book critics circle award, and house of holes, a new york times notable book of the year. A new york times notable book and a national bestseller, nicholson bakers more. The charms of wikipedia by nicholson baker the new. Isbn 9781400166633 9781400166633 tantor audio, 2010. Nicholson baker is an american novelist and essayist. He has received a national book critics circle award, a james. Ive written sixteen books, plus an art book the world on sunday that i published with my wife margaret brentano. Flavorwire, 10 mustread books for september nicholson bakers utterly charming new novel, traveling sprinkler, is discursive, quirky, and consistently engagingan unmitigated pleasure to read. The most recent one is substitute 2016, which is about working as a substitute teacher in maine schools. Nicholson baker, substitute teacher in his new book, a postmodern novelist reports from the front lines of elementary school. The american author returns to the familar theme of sex and.
Nicholson baker audio books, best sellers, author bio. Bakers new novel, house of holes, which comes out this month, has the apt subtitle a book of raunch and is dirtier than vox and the. As a novelist, his writings focus on minute inspection of his characters and narrators stream of consciousness. He studied briefly at the eastman school of music and received a b. Nicholson baker s new book he covered phone sex in his last novel, now the author tells the story of a peeping tom who can see what other men cant. His unconventional novels deal with topics such as voyeurism and planned assassination, and they generally deemphasize narrative in favor. Born on the seventh of january 1957, nicholson baker is an american essayist and novelist. Nicholson bakers new book he covered phone sex in his last novel, now the author tells the story of a peeping tom who can see what other men cant. The new book return system damages books, and reshelving is slow. Nicholson bakers latest novel, the anthologist, was published in september 2009. Imagine chagall being commissioned to do the drawing for the joy of sex, and youll have some notion of the topsyturvy, concupiscent freeforall that vox.
Teachers often hear similar questions from their friends. Nicholson baker is the author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction. Nicholson bakers new collection of essays is witty and whimsical, serious and insightful, and often polemical. Author nicholson baker bio and signed books vj books. The new york times, for example, calls it a glorious filthfest, and as funny as it is filthy. Nicholson baker born january 7, 1957 is an american novelist and essayist. Books about books, where literature is integral to life, are a genre in themselves, as terrific titles by authors from nicholson baker to geoff dyer very readably show. A collection of writings by the national book critics circle awardwinning author features excerpts from the novels vox, the fermata, the mezzanine, and a box of matches, along with essays from the size of thoughts, selections from doublefold, and an all new short story. In the new york times bestseller house of holes, nicholson baker, one of the most beautiful, original, and ingenious prose stylists to have come along in decades the new york times magazine, returns to the terrain that made him famous. Nicholson baker made his debut as a published author in 1988 with the novel the mezzanine.
Nicholson baker reintroduces feckless but hopeful hero paul chowder, whose struggle to get his life together is reflected in his steadfast desire to write a pop song or a protest song. Libraries and the assault on paper is a nonfiction book by nicholson baker that was published in april 2001. How different is it from what they remember years ago. In this startling, witty, and inexhaustibly inventive novel, new york timesbestselling author nicholson baker uses a onestory escalator ride as the occasion for a dazzling reappraisal of everyday objects and rituals. If these adults could really understand, what might they say about school. His characters struggle with grief, regret and existential angst, but they are happy, lucky, warmhearted peopleand we are eager to remain in. The entirety of his first novel, the mezzanine, takes place during a single escalator ride. He has won the national book critics circle award, the hermann hesse prize, and a katherine anne porter award from the american academy more about nicholson baker. Nicholson baker nicholson baker used books, rare books and new books find all books by nicholson baker and compare prices find signed collectible books by nicholson baker english. Nicholson bakers book substitute is an exception to the rule.
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