This morning’s Publishers Weekly features an alarmist “report” from Rachel Deahl that is more fixated upon rumors and conjecture than actual reporting. Deahl, without citing any particular source other than an unnamed “freelance critic” and Tribune communications manager Michael Dizon, has reported that the Tribune Company is planning to slash overall page counts and that the results will go into effect sometime in September. Of course, without specific quotes from book editors, none of whom returned Deahl’s emails (hasn’t Deahl heard of the telephone?), this is about as credible as an Ain’t It Cool News half-truth about the film industry.
But don’t tell that to the National Book Critics Circle, who picked up the item this morning as if it were the gospel.
I plan to conduct some independent investigations on this in the next week. If I can determine any answers or hard information, I will report them here. I’ll leave the rumormongering to Publishers Weekly.
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (
Well said, sir.
There was a report about a month ago that the Tribune intended to cut pages dramatically to make a 50-50 split between ad and editorial, eliminating 80 some pages, so it’s not all rumor and innuendo. LA Observed reported on it and has the link to the conference call with Tribune leadership here: http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2008/06/lat_to_cut_pages.php
Right, Tod, but until we know the specifics, it’s rumor-mongering until further notice. (Though the 50/50 editorial/ad split is a foolhardy one because as soon as ad revenue drops, more pages will be cut? Or will Trib papers be 100% online by 2009? That’s just as speculative a line of reasoning as Deahl’s article.)
Ed, I only linked to the article at Critical Mass and reported that it had been filed and posted. That’s why I used the words “new fears” and “rumored.” I assume Publisher’s Weekly has a fact-checking crew, so why shouldn’t the article be noted? That’s a far cry from “gospel,” as you put it.