June 18th, 2010 / 10:52 am
 Snippets
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Here comes two very worth-your-time reviews that are about reviewing: John Cotter on John Cotter at WWAATD and Ray McDaniel on Elyse Fenton’s Clamor at the Constant Critic.

6 Comments

  1. June 18th, 2010 / 12:25 pm David Kearny—

      You thought these posts were worth my time? I suppose as a warning: don’t send WWAATD or Constant Critic review copies.

      Broder (the poster who wrote the WWAATD post) failed even at her bare minimum: her web research was woeful. If she’d looked a little further she might have noticed that Cotter hasn’t just written a few poetry reviews, but that he’s a founding member / editor of Open Letters Monthly, a site that’s been reviewing books and publishing poetry for three years.

      I get the meta-commentary–it’s not especially insightful–but why sacrifice Cotter and Fenton’s books to this? These are real books, by human beings who spent time writing them. Whether Broder or McDaniel realize it–I doubt they do–they have damned these books by essentially stating that these books have inspired nothing more than malaise.

      You’d better buy copies of these books, Robinson.

  2. June 18th, 2010 / 1:02 pm Elisa—

      David, Melissa Broder runs a series at WWAATD called “You on You” in which authors write about their own books. That’s why the post is called “John Cotter on John Cotter” and the subheading says “John Cotter, author of Under the Small Lights reviews Under the Small Lights by John Cotter.” She didn’t write the “review,” she just posted it. And it’s not a review but a humor piece. I’m sorry some people aren’t getting this because I thought it was hilarious.

  3. June 18th, 2010 / 1:14 pm Adam Robinson—

      Thanks, Elisa.

      And I bought the Cotter book. The Constant Critic review was insightful enough for me to learn that I probably wouldn’t like Clamor.

  4. June 18th, 2010 / 4:25 pm David Kearny—

      You thought these posts were worth my time? I suppose as a warning: don’t send WWAATD or Constant Critic review copies.

      Broder (the poster who wrote the WWAATD post) failed even at her bare minimum: her web research was woeful. If she’d looked a little further she might have noticed that Cotter hasn’t just written a few poetry reviews, but that he’s a founding member / editor of Open Letters Monthly, a site that’s been reviewing books and publishing poetry for three years.

      I get the meta-commentary–it’s not especially insightful–but why sacrifice Cotter and Fenton’s books to this? These are real books, by human beings who spent time writing them. Whether Broder or McDaniel realize it–I doubt they do–they have damned these books by essentially stating that these books have inspired nothing more than malaise.

      You’d better buy copies of these books, Robinson.

  5. June 18th, 2010 / 5:02 pm Elisa—

      David, Melissa Broder runs a series at WWAATD called “You on You” in which authors write about their own books. That’s why the post is called “John Cotter on John Cotter” and the subheading says “John Cotter, author of Under the Small Lights reviews Under the Small Lights by John Cotter.” She didn’t write the “review,” she just posted it. And it’s not a review but a humor piece. I’m sorry some people aren’t getting this because I thought it was hilarious.

  6. June 18th, 2010 / 5:14 pm Adam Robinson—

      Thanks, Elisa.

      And I bought the Cotter book. The Constant Critic review was insightful enough for me to learn that I probably wouldn’t like Clamor.