Year / 2006

by Edward Champion

Keep That Timely Literary Coverage Coming, Tanenhaus!

Daniel Mendelsohn reviews Jonathan Franzen’s The Discomfort Zone in the October 15, 2006 edition of The New York Times Book Review. It’s a fair enough review, but it’s worth pointing out that the book came out on September 5 and has already been roundly trounced by the likes of Cheryl Reed and Marjorie Kehe.

In fact, Michiko herself reviewed Franzen’s book on August 29, 2006 in the Gray Lady’s very own pages — almost seven weeks ago.

So why cover a book so late? Particularly a slim volume under 200 pages that has already been thoroughly covered by every major newspaper?

I suppose at this rate we can expect the NYTBR to cover the new Pynchon book sometime around March, Richard Powers’ The Echo Maker a little after the New Year — that is, assuming they even bother to cover these books.

Not only can we count on Sam Tanenhaus to offer disastrous literary fiction coverage (with such dependable critics as Liesl Schillinger and David Orr barely allowed to flaunt their critical acumen and Dave Itzkoff’s science fiction column appearing no more frequently than the equinox), but we can count on Tanenhaus to review obvious mainstream titles two months later. Heck of a job, Sam!

[UPDATE: An anonymous source tells me that Colson Whitehead will be reviewing Richard Powers’ The Echo Maker in the October 22, 2006 issue of the NYTBR.]

by Edward Champion

Esquire Redeemed by Tom Chiarella Hire?

Last year, I cancelled my subscription to Esquire after the magazine ran an egregious Thomas P.M. Barnett article that, without irony, played Rumsfeld up as a man’s man that you could hang out with. The article was devoid of a single whit of criticism. It was dishonest journalism and I had figured that the magazine was beyond hope, committed towards being more of a mainstream mouthpiece than a place for ideas.

But maybe, just maybe, the recent hiring of Tom Chiarella as fiction editor might be enough for me to resubscribe to the magazine. Not only is Esquire doubling up its fiction, but the November issue features a piece by LBC winner Michael Martone.

It’s reassuring to see Chiarella embrace the magazine’s long legacy of publishing short stories from the likes of Donald Barthelme, Stanley Elkin, Tim O’Brien and Barry Targan. Let us hope that this represents a sign that Esquire EIC David Granger is committed to some shadow of the daring fiction and journalism that Esquire was known for in the 1960s. Perhaps the time has come to give the magazine another chance.

(via Galleycat)

by Edward Champion

The More Tired Than You Roundup

  • RIP Gillo Pontecorvo, cinematic revolutionary. (BATTLE OF ALGIERS, YES! BANG BANG SHOOT SHOOT ETHICAL CONUNDRUM BUY CRITERION IF YOU NO HAVE!)
  • Various bloggers and booksellers cite their overlooked books, including a few pals of mine. (via Bookdwarf)
  • Eight authors reveal how they write. (WITH PEN, WITH TYPEWRITER, WITH WORD PROCESSOR WOW! CAN THEY HONE WORDS?) (via Booksquare)
  • Scott Esposito has a very thoughtful column on book reviews. He suggests that reviewers shouldn’t be in the business of making any good/bad pronouncements at all. I think Scott hits upon part of the problem of many reviewers, in that they go in for the big kill rather than trying to understand why other critics and readers appreciate a particular author. Reviewers often fail to be doubting Thomases or sometimes neglect to cast light on a bad book’s good points (or a good book’s bad points). I would add that any good review should not just be about where one can place a book, but about a reviewer trying to commingle her subjective views with those presented by the author, ideally citing specific examples from the book (which seems a lost art these days) and without the reviewer drawing too much attention to herself. (BAD ED! THIS PARA NO MAKE SENSE! TRY TO ARTICULATE THINGS AFTER YOU HAVE SLEPT! BUT YES, SCOTT ESPOSITO’S COLUMN IS GOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!)
  • James Tata examines Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and asks if its grisly horrors are all that dissimilar from The Pianist. (ME WANT BLOODY POLANSKI MOVIE RIGHT NOW! SO SATISFYING HIS TWISTED CINEMATIC VISION!)
  • Excerpts from Chris Ware’s new work, Building Stories. (SAME SAME NYT FUNNY PAGES WARM UP FOR THIS PERHAPS? WARE ONE-TRICK PONY? ME HOPE NOT!!!) (via Maud)
  • Bud Parr offers a great overview of Pamuk and the bloggers. (PAMUK PAMUK MY NAME IS TIRED AND I WOULD BE IN A COURTROOM IF ME VISIT TURKEY!)
  • Stephen Metcalf prosecutes against Charles Frazier. (STEPHEN METCALF IS WORST REVIEWER OF HIS GENERATION? YOU MAKE CALL. ME IGNORE FRAZIER. BIG PYNCHON BOOK ON WAY!!!!) (via Rake)
  • JCO ain’t got stones. (RE: JOYCE! ME WISH SHE LEFT ALONE TO WRITE WRITE WRITE!)
  • Silliman on Creeley
  • COFFEE GOOD! COFFEE VERY GOOD KEEP ED AWAKE! OH YES I AM SLUGGISH ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME I WILL KISS YOU!!!!!
by Edward Champion

BSS #69: Annalee Newitz

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Author: Annalee Newitz

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Looking for an unwholesome bargain.

Subjects Discussed: Capitalist monsters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, brain movies, Birth of a Nation, the fear of white power being lost, class warfare, Sawny Beane, the individual impulses of serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer, the labor tools of killing, the Unabomber, serial killer and terrorist nomenclature, freeway snipers, Fight Club, avuncular hackers, V for Vendetta, narratives involving women who gorge, The Man With Two Brains, Darren Aronofsky, Pi, the labor principles of freelancing, a lengthy argument on H.P. Lovecraft, and the inevitability of decay.

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