JoAnn Karkos has decided to hold two sex books hostage because she found their content objectionable. She checked them out at the library and refuses to return them. Since Ms. Karkos has seen fit to commit intellectual fascism, I’m wondering if the Lewiston, Maine authorities might be persuaded to garnish Ms. Karkos’s wages until she returns the two books. After all, if Ms. Karkos doesn’t want to play nice with the natural flow of ideas, why should the natural flow of cash earned for work play nice with Ms. Karkos? (via Big Bad Book)
Fantastic, Keller. The NYTBR loses a page of editorial and the section becomes more contingent on advertising. Never mind that advertising revenue was up 10% from last year.
Apparently, the age group now most at risk for violent death is now 40 to 49, the new area to find “adolescent risk taking.” Is this selfishness on the part of a growing generation or a societal malady?
Australian newspapers might be ahead of their book reviewing counterparts in the States. Can you honestly see any American newspaper reviewing a literary quarterly?
I refuse to mention the chain by name. But I’m wondering how much this ostensible tale of redemption is undermined by the [Insert Corporation Here] Saved My Life rap. Color me decidedly skeptical. But it would seem to me that this gentleman’s recalibration of his priorities changed his life and not necessarily the chain in question. I am finding, of late, more problems with causative thought (i.e., X caused Y) applied to everyday scenarios. Even people who are much smarter than me seem convinced that they can find correlations without accounting for all the factors that make up a scenario. (And I, by no means, abjure myself from engaging in this fallacy in thinking.) I am wondering why this has grown more acceptable in the United States.
Dan Green on litblogs and serious criticism. I fully agree that the perceived “chatty” quality of litblogs is as broad a brush as declaring all print reviews “stodgy.” Nevertheless, Dan is correct to suggest that litblogs should continue to offer more in the way of “serious criticism,” whatever this might mean. With this in mind, I’m hoping to offer a few more long-form posts very soon.
To proclaim rather reductively that “style should serve to strengthen the author’s message” is to lose sight of the fact that life is ambiguous. If art reflects life, should art not likewise be served in a baroque manner from time to time? (In other words, I can’t abide such childish generalizations about Martin Amis’s work.)
There are currently too many errands to run. I’ll try to check in later. But don’t forget that, here in New York, tonight is the Columbia panel.
In this week’s LATBR, Douglas Hofstadter offers a fairly solid summation of Steven Pinker’s latest book, The Stuff of Thought. Because this engaging volume is indeed very airtight in its logic (it includes a pretty devastating takedown of Jerry Fodor’s “modularity of the mind” theory), I’m a bit curious about why Hofstadter “can’t completely accept its arguments.” Surely, Hofstadter could have put himself a bit more on the line here instead of simply imputing, without explanation, why he can’t buy into a “a language of thought.” These is cheap contrarian parlance. Thankfully, Hofstadter’s slight deficiencies are offset by Carolyn Kellogg’s delightful review of The Last Chicken in America. (Incidentally, more Pinker here.)
Let me offer a warm and hearty welcome to my newly minted, fellow podcasters at Book World. The WaPo has now entered the podcasting racket. I’m happy to report that, two shows in, the podcast is better than Tanenhaus’s version — in large part because the participants are actually having a bit of fun, as opposed to sounding like they are trapped in a soulless boardroom. (Did Ron Charles have a previous career as a college radio deejay? Because his FM radio intonations are certainly a lot more fun than Dwight Garner’s droll desperation.) But Marie Arana needs to lighten up a bit. To paraphrase Buck Owens, all you gotta do is act naturally. Plus, the WaPo site really needs direct streaming links instead of simply offering an RSS feed. But this is a promising start.
Yo, Junka, youze ain’t down wizzit! Globa warming be sumpin’ to stop! Younoze, like globazation and corprite gree! My rightchus brothaz and I put up zat sign and we gonna punk ya! Meetz me behind za Safeway at Church & Market. Throwdown and YouTube vidyo, mothafuckaz! Let za peoplez decides!
Why does Hollywood get the writer wrong? Probably because sitting on one’s ass in front of a computer might make for a protracted Andy Warhol film, but is rather dull to depict in narrative.
Should a play that’s weeks from opening in New York be off-limits to Chicago critics? It seems that Steppenwolf seems to be denying Chicago critics coverage of its New York productions. (via About Last Night)
Many “guy books” have become exceedling rare. That’s too bad. This will prevent others from truly determining if The Great Tool Emporium and Cab Forward is an underused Kama Sutra position.
Dave Eggers won’t let you Friend him on Facebook. Well, that doesn’t seem terribly philanthropic, does it? If you’re feeling spurned by Eggers, then have no fear. I’ll happily add you as a Facebook friend.
I read this story and imagined Bobby Brown singing “My Lobotomy.” “Everybody’s cutting all these lobes inside me / Why don’t they just let me think? / I don’t need remission / Make my own cognition oh / That’s my lobotomy.”
Who knew that a novelist and NBC could come to terms on “a divorce project?” This divorce project sounds rather pleasant. Like a nice little summer crafts project instead of the pain, hurt, financial woes, and humiliation that come with the territory. So good on NBC for giving us divorce with an enthusiastic hobbyist’s smile!
More controversy on italicizing comic strips at Other Ed’s. Personally, I don’t think Jumble should be italicized, unless someone here can reasonably argue that it is presenting a continuing narrative.
It looks like a guy named Alexis Debat has faked a number of interviews with a number of substantial subjects and still managed to get his fabricated interviews into policy journals. Incredible. (via The Publishing Spot)