- As I write these words, I’m up early waiting for the Nobel literature announcement. I’m fully expecting the choice to be somewhat anticlimactic and not an American. But I could be wrong. We’ll find out soon enough.
- Tom Christensen offers a list of books most valuable in relation to publishing and writing. Notably absent from the list is the Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. You think I’m joking, but writing’s a pretty damn lonely business sometimes. (via Messr. Junker)
- More New Yorker tidbits from Emily Gordon.
- Norman Mailer is interviewed about God, which is to say that he suffers delusions of Mailer. (via The Valve)
- John Freeman has a surprisingly decent report on the Frankfurt Book Fair.
- “This is just a lifelike, likable book populated by three-dimensional characters who make themselves very much at home on the page.” Oh dear. This is the kind of sentence one expects from a Madison Avenue slogan writer, not a literary critic or even a book reviewer. The time has come to make some choices. I’ve had enough of Janet Maslin. I cannot continue to read her nonsense in good faith. I do this because there are too many good things in life to enjoy and, frankly, Maslin’s deterioration as a critic (she was a perfectly fine film critic) is too much for me to bear. Do yourself a favor and give up Maslin too. Your blood pressure will lower in minutes.
- Some excerpts from Kurt Cobain interviews. Who knew that Cobain was such a fan of Queen’s News of the World?
- Richard Grayson is running for Congress in Arizona.
- Linda Richards uncovers a lost silent version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Roundup
– October 11, 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. (
Kurt had really wide-ranging taste – he’s rumored to have been a great fan of King Crimson and Celtic Frost as well.
I didn’t even think Maslin was a good film critic, but glad you’ve decided life is too short to read her. It is, indeed.