The great novelist Philip Roth turned 80 years old today.

To celebrate his birthday, we’ve linked to a long list of free eBooks that inspired his long career as a novelist–follow the links below to download for your Kindle, Nook, iPad or other popular reader.

The New Yorker has more details: “Roth told Les inRocks that when he turned seventy-four he reread his favorite authors—Dostoyevsky, Conrad, Turgenev, Hemingway.”

Read more

A ThrillerFest panel last week tackled this question: “Can a thriller be both exciting and smart?” Participants included authors Linwood Barclay, Joseph Finder, Kathleen George, Andrew Gross, Andrew Pyper and Matt Richtel. David Liss moderated the panel.

During the discussion, the participants picked Dennis LeHane‘s Shutter Island, Joseph Conrad‘s Heart of Darkness, and William Landay‘s upcoming Defending Jacob as their favorite smart thrillers.

Below, we’ve included five tips for writing smart thrillers from the discussion.

Read more

Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, Franz Kafka, and other smoking hot authors are coming to a cigarette pack near you. But these literary lights won’t need a Surgeon General’s warning.

As the rest of the world debates price points for digital books, Tank Books is wrapping print editions of classic stories in some innovative packaging–a cigarette pack that fits easily inside your pocket or purse. The site made this GalleyCat editor remember his younger days as a literary smoker, and we heartily endorse this healthier alternative.

Here’s more from the site: “The flip-top cigarette pack is one of the most successful pieces of packaging design in history. TankBooks pay homage to this iconic form by employing it in the service of great literature. We have launched a series of books designed to mimic cigarette packs–the same size, packaged in flip-top cartons with silver foil wrapping and sealed in cellophane. The titles are by authors of great stature–classic stories presented in classic packaging; objects desirable for both their literary merit and their unique design. The complete set comes in a stunning tin–perfect as a really original gift.” (Via AgencySpy)

As public figures remember Senator Edward M. Kennedy, his love of poetry and literature has surfaced in tributes.

In a probing essay for the Guardian, prolific author Joyce Carol Oates used classic literary works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Joseph Conrad to measure Kennedy’s reputation. It is an tough portrait of the Senator and an exploration of public redemption in America.

Here’s an excerpt from the essay: “One is led to think of Tom and Daisy Buchanan of Fitzgerald’s the ‘Great Gatsby,’ rich individuals accustomed to behaving carelessly and allowing others to clean up after them … The poet John Berryman once wondered: ‘Is wickedness soluble in art?.’ One might rephrase, in a vocabulary more suitable for our politicized era: ‘Is wickedness soluble in good deeds?’” (Via The Awl)