- Robert Jordan has passed on.
- 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.)
- Touré in the NYTBR? It’s not so much a review as it is a first-person essay, but I will commend this slightly quirky matchup for now, even if it runs the risk of endorsing this preposterous lede by parallel association. And I’ll agree with my colleague Levi Asher that this David Plotz review is remarkably awful.
- 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.
- “Alex Trebeck Never Eats Fried Chicken.” (Congrats, Mr. Bell.)
- Well, it’s good to know thatsome folks are dedicated to sifting through the theatrical dust heap.
- The photos that Joe O’Donnell did not take.
- Top ten kickass heroines. (via Bookshelves of Doom)
- American Broadband: Pathetic and Disgraceful.
- Comics and cell phones. (via ComicMix)
- Authors buried in Concord, MA. I’ve seen some of these graves.
- James Bond has topped a culture chart.
- An in-depth look at Ryszard Kapuscinski.
- One word: No!
- Top 10 Bizarre Music Videos.
- Top 50 UK designers.
- Brak: the forerunner to New Urbanism?
- The 1970s Joy of Sex beard guy writes his online dating profile.
- It looks like anyone who owns The Prisoner on DVD will have to purchase it again.
- San Francisco, 1938.
- Laura Miller on Tree of Smoke.
Roundup
– September 17, 2007Posted in: Roundup
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. (
Though WaPo Book World deployed David Ignatius’ forehead to review Tree of Smoke yesterday. Don’t think too well of them.