- I can’t believe that I’m in the position of defending both Sam Tanenhaus and Franklin Foer for this review, but since Mr. Hogan has taken them both to task, I should note that, in all fairness to Foer, he probably turned in his review of the Woodward book well before Rummy resigned. Of course, with Tanenhaus timing this review to appear after last week’s elections, presumably with the assumption that the Republicans would win, demonstrates how untimely delay can sometimes be a book review editor’s folly.
- The Washington Post‘s Bob Thompson talks with Philip Roth as the third Library of America volume of Roth’s complete works hits bookstores.
- Just how low has Duran Duran sunk? So low that they’re collaborating with Justin Timberlake.
- Where most people can laugh off (and possibly be honored) after being given the South Park treatment, Richard Dawkins is highly dismayed.
- The Beat unearths a telling indicator re: Lost Girls.
- Rumors of the fountain pen’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
- I’ve been highly dubious of Jerome Weeks’ book/daddy, seeing as how the man was such a cry baby about litbloggers. But any guy who cites Buster Keaton can’t be too bad.
- Bookworld asks whether blogs sell books.
- Largehearted Boy observes that this week marks the release of the great Joanna Newsom’s new album. And he says that it’s become his favorite album of the year.
- Instead of reading the rambling nonsense (apparently, a “review” of Lisey’s Story) that appeared in this week’s NYTBR, King fans might want to check out this King interview, in which he discusses what frightens him.
- The Simpsons Movie trailer. Yawn. Watching The Simpsons intermittently over the past several years has been a bit like watching a once robust American Cream Draft limp around the racetrack, when it really needs to be shot and put out of its misery.
- Jenny D in the New York T.
- Will Self on trying to procure song rights. (via Splinters)
- The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association is trying to sex things up. They’ve opted for a new title for their trade show. But it isn’t Indie Booksellers Unite for Good Merlot. It isn’t Booksellers for a Better Tomorrow. It isn’t the Indie Booksellers Plot for World Domination Conference. Instead, it’s the pedestrian “The Booksellers Sales Conference,” which sounds about as inviting as eight hours of watching Powerpoint presentations. Come on, NAIBA! You can do better!
- You’ve got to love the EU. They just outlawed television product placement.
- Ron Silliman on “Howl.”
- This may very well be a first: Norman Mailer has confessed a weakness!
- Time‘s Richard Lacayo talks with Gore Vidal. His response to gay marriage: “Since heterosexual marriage is such a disaster, why on earth would anybody want to imitate it?”
- An Immanuel Kant mystery? WTF?
- The Scotsman‘s Stuart Kelly compares Irish literary stratagems with Scottish ones.
- Anthony Lane on Casino Royale.
- Bella Stander reports on Ralph Steadman.
- Robert Fulford explains why you should be reading the Times Literary Supplement. (via Kitabkhana)
- Frank Kermode on William Empson.
- The Time Traveler Show features a 1974 conversation with Asimov.
- Richard Pachter: “It’s not enough to write a great book. Authors are now expected to play an active role in book marketing and promotion. In this brave new world of always-on media, scribes are expected to pursue or make themselves available to every potential reader.” Come on, Pachter. Do you really want to raise Updike’s blood pressure?
- RIP Ellen Willis.
- Editor Misael Tamayo Hernandez has been found dead after running several corruption stories.
- Some of this year’s NaNoWriMo participants include David Thayer and James Tata. No work online, but I wish them luck.
- Glenn Greenwald calls the Washington Post out for failing to note Bush’s little white Rummy lie.
- Ed Park uncovers some interesting papers.
- Done Waiting examines the interesting case of Kyle Sowashes.
- One thing you may not get from print media, particularly those who are more interested in being cultural gatekeepers: helpfulness and cooperation.
- Long Pauses discovers Fassbinder.
- HD-DVD: the future of advertising?
- Hitch on Borat.
- Flak Magazine introduces Flak Radio.
- Another Deng-Eggers interview.
- Re: Lost: I concur with Amy’s Robot.
- How many writers write. (via The Publishing Spot)
Roundup
– November 13, 2006Posted 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. (
I’m actually excited about the Simpsons movie for the perverse reason that the makers of the show have hinted in the DVD commentaries that it would probably kill the show. No specific details, but there’s a definite vibe that the movie will be a sort of grand finale.
Of course, I also totally bought into the idea that REM would break up at midnight on New Year’s Day, 2000, so…
Yes, to put a plainer spin on it, the fact that Foer couldn’t incorporate the Rumsfeld developments into his story is a problem with the way the story was ASSIGNED, not the way it was written. Considered in and of itself, it’s a perfectly competent review of State of Denial, just as good as any of the ones filed a month before it.
Ed, what’s your beef with the Stephen King review? I thought it was refreshingly energetic and broad in scope.
Updike can take Toprol XL like everyone else!
Ed–
Thanks for the good wishes on NaNoWriMo. I’ll need all the luck I can get!
Jim