- Another day, another assault on chick lit. I didn’t realize that all the chick lit authors shared “stock protagonists shopping for designer handbags while juggling boyfriends.” Is there a secret society I don’t know about where chick lit authors meet in smoky dens and swap stock characters, relationship angst and recipes for chocolate cake? To examine a recent “chick lit” title, I didn’t enounter any designer handbags in Pamela Ribon’s Why Moms Are Weird, which actually deals more with family than “juggling boyfriends.” But I do see a story where a young woman pines for a man within Curtis Sittenfeld’s The Man of My Dreams. I wish Merrick would be honest with her damnations and simply castigate popular literature, which is where she (and perhaps her fellow contributors) seems to have the real beef with. (And for those interested, Lauren Baratz-Logsted had some words to say about this compilation last year.) (Also, noted by Carolyn, Bookburger sets up the prizefight.)
- Laila Lalami tracks the terrible toll.
- Jason Boog interviews Joel Derfner and learns how Derfner wrote books while working a full-time job.
- Laura Miller has the scoop on Lethem’s latest.
- John Freeman reviews Daniel Handler’s Adverbs.
- Scott uncovers this DFW essay on writing.
- Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We reconsidered. (via Languor Management)
- Nora Ephron has a new book out. (via Jennifer Weiner)
- Billy Bragg successfully lobbies MySpace.
- Kevin Smith will be a guest critic while Ebert recuperates.
- Ana Marie Cox has been named Time‘s Washington editor. Guess this means curtailing the assfucking.
- Malcolm Gladwell on blogging: “Even people who do not think of themselves as being influenced by the agenda of traditional media actually are: they are simply influenced by someone who is influenced by someone who is influenced by old media—or something like that.” (via Madam Mayo)
- “One Last Fuck”: a YouTube poem.
- Rick Kleffel on George Pelacanos’ The Night Gardener: “the most literary of Pelecanos’ oeuvre yet.”
- Another piece of the Melanie Martinez shitcanning puzzle: PBS head Paula Kerger says the new indecency fines would put PBS out of business. This may explain the uber-paranoia.
Year / 2006
The 1980s Public Access Aesthetic Returns!
All Best to Linda Richards
January Magazine editor Linda L. Richards offers some first-hand coverage of an island wildfire gone wrong. Thankfully, Linda is okay and her house is still standing. Hang in there, Linda!
Melanie Martinez: Faxes, Mail and Phone Calls
Since the Melanie Martinez post has generated great interest, here’s the contact address for the PBS executive who fired her. (Wax’s specific reason: “PBS Kids Sprout has determined that the dialogue in this video is inappropriate for her role as a preschool program host and may undermine her character’s credibility with our audience.”) I would suggest faxes and letters instead of emails, as paper is something which will clutter up the PBS offices and email can be easily deleted. And if you like, why not give Wax a call? I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.
Sandy Wax
President
PBS Kids Sprout
2000 Market Street, 20th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-667-2750
Fax: 215-667-2701
email: sandy_wax@comcast.com
Roundup
- An interview with Tim Powers
- A fascinating article on convention centers and how Massimiliano Fuksas hopes to change the paradigm.
- Be still my beating ventricles: the Atlantic offers a full Francine Prose interview online. (via Bookdwarf)
- Why can’t novelists write for the stage? An intricate question that I leave to the Gamesters of Triskelion. (via Bookninja)
- It looks like Kevin Smith has given up on the Fletch films. Bill Lawrence will write and direct Fletch Won. It will be interesting to see how these get adapted, particularly since Zach Braff will play Fletch instead of Jason Lee. (via Sarah)
- Heck of a job, Gray Lady.
- Jack Shafer digs the NYT capsules.
- Canadian magazine readers are diminishing.
- Book of the Day doesn’t think much of Millenia Black’s The Great Pretender.
- An Alberto Mendez story in the New Yorker.
- Sara Peretsky on V.I. Warshawki’s drinking. (via Pete Lit)
- Levi Asher chit-chats with Matthew Pearl.