Dave Eggers

It’s become difficult, in the past few years, to make a distinction between YA, or young adult, fiction and its allegedly more mature cousin. I suspect Dave Eggers’ terrific new novel, “The Wild Things,’’ will render the issue that much more muddled. Which is fine, as far as I’m concerned. The folks in marketing may have target audiences in mind, but all readers want is a good yarn. The real question, when it comes to literature, is whether a particular author is interested in hustling us through a breakneck plot (a la Dan Brown)

Following in the footsteps of his buddy Ben Affleck , Matt Damon will make his directorial debut on a project he helped write. (Affleck co-wrote and directed both "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town. ") According to Variety, Damon has co-written an untitled drama with Newton homeboy John Krasinski , who'll costar in the movie with Damon. Details are sketchy, but the film centers on a salesman, played by Damon, who arrives in a small town only to have his life changed. Krasinski developed the idea for the script with writer Dave Eggers , and then pitched it to Damon for the two to...

Following in the footsteps of his buddy Ben Affleck , Matt Damon will make his directorial debut on a project he helped write. (Affleck co-wrote and directed both "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town. ") According to Variety, Damon has co-written an untitled drama with Newton homeboy John Krasinski , who'll costar in the movie with Damon. Details are sketchy, but the film centers on a salesman, played by Damon, who arrives in a small town only to have his life changed. Krasinski developed the idea for the script with writer Dave Eggers , and then pitched it to Damon for the two to...

In 2007, Boston opened its own chapter of 826 National, the nonprofit cofounded by Dave Eggers to foster writing among students, ages 6 to 18. As executive director of 826 Boston, poet and longtime writing teacher Daniel Johnson oversees not only volunteer-staffed writing programs, but also the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, housed in the center’s Roxbury storefront. His first book of poems, “How to Catch a Falling Knife,” was released in April. Given your work at the Bigfoot Institute, what are your preferred books on Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or yetis?

In 2007, Boston opened its own chapter of 826 National, the nonprofit cofounded by Dave Eggers to foster writing among students, ages 6 to 18. As executive director of 826 Boston, poet and longtime writing teacher Daniel Johnson oversees not only volunteer-staffed writing programs, but also the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, housed in the center’s Roxbury storefront. His first book of poems, “How to Catch a Falling Knife,” was released in April. Given your work at the Bigfoot Institute, what are your preferred books on Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or yetis?

"Away We Go" is a road movie for idealists. Verona and Burt (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski) cross the continent in pursuit of the perfect place to raise their unborn baby. Among other cities, they try Tucson, Phoenix, and Montreal, hoping one of them feels right enough to stay. Each location introduces a friend or relative of varying emotional stability and promises an opportunity for situation comedy, situation melodrama, or, during a stop in Madison, Wis., both. "Away We Go" left me in a situation, too. Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, the Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward of the...

Sometimes we use irony to cover up the pain. It's a form of po-mo stoicism, using bitter and self-referential humor to mask tragedy. By undermining all human feeling, and seeming to take nothing seriously, as Dave Eggers did in "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," the ironist can actually create quite a genuine effect. Other times, irony is just a way to display just how clever you are, or how generational you can be. And VH1's new comedy, "I Hate My 30's," falls squarely into that second category of irony.

There are several reasons to buy "The Book of Other People," an anthology of character-driven stories assembled by novelist Zadie Smith, and they aren't all literary. First, its table of contents is close to a Who's Who of who's hip in literary circles - heavy on the darlings of The Believer and Granta. Shelve the volume, and in 20 years you'll have a fascinating time capsule of writers who were hot in 2008. Second, this is a charity effort, akin to the 2000 anthology of first-person stories "Speaking With the Angel," edited by Nick Hornby.

McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories , Edited by Michael Chabon, Vintage, 328 pp., paperback, $13.95 McSweeney's, the eccentric literary journal started in the late 1990s by novelist Dave Eggers, has unleashed its latest anthology, packing a good scare into some pleasurable reading. "McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories" is the follow-up to the hugely successful "Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales," which was also edited by author Michael Chabon, a frequent contributor to the journal.

In "Where the Wild Things Are," the masterpiece among masterpieces of the late Maurice Sendak, the word that first summons magic is a simple "his": "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind / and another," the opening pages read. Not " a wolf suit"; certainly not "the wolf suit his grandmother gave him for his birthday. " The wolf suit is a given. It already exists, and the story is already underway. This was Sendak's imaginative genius. In the wake of his death last week at age 83, the conventional thing to say about his work has been that it brought...

It’s become difficult, in the past few years, to make a distinction between YA, or young adult, fiction and its allegedly more mature cousin. I suspect Dave Eggers’ terrific new novel, “The Wild Things,’’ will render the issue that much more muddled. Which is fine, as far as I’m concerned. The folks in marketing may have target audiences in mind, but all readers want is a good yarn. The real question, when it comes to literature, is whether a particular author is interested in hustling us through a breakneck plot (a la Dan Brown)

"Away We Go" is a road movie for idealists. Verona and Burt (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski) cross the continent in pursuit of the perfect place to raise their unborn baby. Among other cities, they try Tucson, Phoenix, and Montreal, hoping one of them feels right enough to stay. Each location introduces a friend or relative of varying emotional stability and promises an opportunity for situation comedy, situation melodrama, or, during a stop in Madison, Wis., both. "Away We Go" left me in a situation, too. Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, the Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward of the literary journal universe (he of...

There are several reasons to buy "The Book of Other People," an anthology of character-driven stories assembled by novelist Zadie Smith, and they aren't all literary. First, its table of contents is close to a Who's Who of who's hip in literary circles - heavy on the darlings of The Believer and Granta. Shelve the volume, and in 20 years you'll have a fascinating time capsule of writers who were hot in 2008. Second, this is a charity effort, akin to the 2000 anthology of first-person stories "Speaking With the Angel," edited by Nick Hornby.

Sometimes we use irony to cover up the pain. It's a form of po-mo stoicism, using bitter and self-referential humor to mask tragedy. By undermining all human feeling, and seeming to take nothing seriously, as Dave Eggers did in "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," the ironist can actually create quite a genuine effect. Other times, irony is just a way to display just how clever you are, or how generational you can be. And VH1's new comedy, "I Hate My 30's," falls squarely into that second category of irony.

McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories , Edited by Michael Chabon, Vintage, 328 pp., paperback, $13.95 McSweeney's, the eccentric literary journal started in the late 1990s by novelist Dave Eggers, has unleashed its latest anthology, packing a good scare into some pleasurable reading. "McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories" is the follow-up to the hugely successful "Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales," which was also edited by author Michael Chabon, a frequent contributor to the journal.

You'll have to wait a little longer for Matt Damon's directorial debut. Several Hollywood websites are reporting that the Cambridge-bred actor has decided not to direct a movie based on a script he co-wrote with Dave Eggers (and co-conceived with "The Office" actor John Krasinski). Initially, his decision was said to be related to "script issues," but Deadline.com says it's merely a timing issue. Damon and Krasinski will still star in the pic, which is apparently a Frank Capra-esque tale of rival corporate executives, but Gus Van Sant will now direct.

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy By Barbara Ehrenreich A fascinating, quirky, and thought-provoking analysis of communal celebration (Metropolitan, $26). Inés of My Soul By Isabel Allende This female account of the early years of Chile's history raises a number of interesting questions (HarperCollins, $25.95). Measuring the World By Daniel Kehlmann A vivid re-creation, in novel form, of the lives and times of scientists Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss (Pantheon, $23)