Speaking of gay...

Just a little linkspam to start off your morning (except, of course, those of you who are in another time zone):

Will Sarah Palin stop reading Where the Wild Things Are to her kids? I mean, the man who wrote it chose to be gay for his entire life. In speaking of his life, homosexuality included, Maurice Sendak states the sad truth of never publicly coming out:

“I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn’s death in May 2007. He never told his parents: “All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.”

I've mentioned before that my favorite part of the week is the Guardian Digested Reads. No book is too sacred. This week, John Crace gives mini-digests of the prestigious Booker Prize shortlist. From Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh:

Deeti chewed on a mouthful of roti as she ground the poppies. "I must be in the book that ticks the historical, multi-layered, multicultural shortlist box," she said. "In which case," her husband replied, "I had better hurry up and die so that you can show off your research about the Opium Wars and sail away from Calcutta on board the Ibis with a cast of colourful characters who will use wilfully obscure and caricatured language that the judges will fall over themselves to call a tour de force of comic invention." "You're right," Deeti agreed. "And the best thing is I don't even need an ending as it's only the first in a trilogy."

So in case you've been living in a box for the past three weeks, Stephenie Meyer had a snafu regarding her next manuscript. And while I have been critical of the series, I do understand how she must feel violated by the incident (Unless, the very suspicious person in me whispers, unless she was the source of the leak because of the sad little nervous breakdown she had due to the laughing criticism of her book. Shush, little brat, I tell myself, let's just take people as they are, okay?). Meyer then officially released the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun on her webpage with this slightly contradictory explanation:

I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available here (at the end of this post). This way, my readers don't have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place.

Be that as it may, if I were Meyer, I would take what good I can from the entire episode. What good is there in having someone you trust take a work in progress, scan it, and leak it on the internet, you ask? Well, of course, it opened the window for Cleolinda of Occupation: Girl to work her read and commentary magic:

Okay. The first thing I want to discuss is the fact that I cannot stop reading these books even though they fill me with feminist rage and horror. I can't stop, y'all. The imprinting! The forced kissing! The STALKING, OH MY LORD, THE STALKING. More to the point, perhaps: if Bella Swan hadn't met Edward, what was she planning to do with her life? I mean, what was she planning to do for a job? We're not even told enough about her interests to have any idea what career path she could have taken. Novels of the nineteenth century: that is pretty much it. And guess what? They're not hiring for those anymore.

Oh, Edward. Shine on you prissy diamond.

For your picture of the day:

The Bacon Flowchart (via BoingBoing):