Reviews & Web Hype

Let’s See What Some Stuff’s About

The Scott Timberg io9 piece I mentioned the other day is live now. “Welcome to the Soft Apocalypse.”

At TNRBook, Sophia Lear is unimpressed by Sheila Kohler’s Becoming Jane Eyre. Also, reprinted classics by George Orwell and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Two things I pinched from Bookslut– “The Poetics of Amateur Products Reviews” and Margaret Drabble introduces you to William Wordsworth. And why the heck not?

Okay, NYTea time- Tom Carson really likes Just Kids, Patti Smith’s memoir of Robert Mapplethorpe. I’ve heard amazing things about it as well–out in “the streets”. Wells Tower is pretty ambivalent about the new T.C. Boyle. Antonya Nelson calls Robert Stone’s Fun With Problems “a book for grown-ups,” which is a concept I both do and do not understand; both am and am not vaguely attracted to. Has anyone out there ever read any Stone? Also, obituaries. Charles McGrath on Salinger and Michael Powell on Zinn. A blog I’d never heard of (before Paper Cuts linked to it) called “Classics Rock: Books Shelved in Songs” has playlists of songs that reference the works of each man (Zinn, Salinger). But the Farah Fawcett Memorial Overshadowed Death of the Week (literature edition) has absolutely got to go to poor Louis Auchincloss, who wrote over 60 books over 50 years, mostly while also still practicing law, and who, at 92, had a year on Salinger and four on Zinn.

Finally, a question. For three days now I’ve left Emerson’s Divinity School Address in an open tab on my browser. Will today be the day I print it out and actually read it? (That’s really two questions.)

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20 Comments

  1. January 30th, 2010 / 4:13 pm Nick Antosca—

      I read Dog Soldiers and liked it. One of my biggest college regrets is that Robert Stone was teaching while I was there and I never took a class with or even met him. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I read Dog Soldiers the summer after I graduated.

  2. January 30th, 2010 / 12:13 pm Nick Antosca—

      I read Dog Soldiers and liked it. One of my biggest college regrets is that Robert Stone was teaching while I was there and I never took a class with or even met him. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I read Dog Soldiers the summer after I graduated.

  3. January 30th, 2010 / 4:51 pm Laura van den Berg—

      While I haven’t read the new collection, I love, love, love Bear and His Daughter. “Helping” is especially awesome.

  4. January 30th, 2010 / 12:51 pm Laura van den Berg—

      While I haven’t read the new collection, I love, love, love Bear and His Daughter. “Helping” is especially awesome.

  5. January 30th, 2010 / 5:01 pm JScap—

      I will second Laura– a big YES to Robert Stone’s “Helping.” It’s a hell of a story.

  6. January 30th, 2010 / 1:01 pm JScap—

      I will second Laura– a big YES to Robert Stone’s “Helping.” It’s a hell of a story.

  7. January 30th, 2010 / 5:33 pm Justin Taylor—

      Awesome. I love learning new things. Thanks, guys.

  8. January 30th, 2010 / 1:33 pm Justin Taylor—

      Awesome. I love learning new things. Thanks, guys.

  9. January 30th, 2010 / 8:13 pm Jeff—

      I really like Dog Soldiers. There’s something about Stone’s early writing that reminds me of DeLillo and they share many themes and preoccupations. Stone’s not as inventive on the sentence level, but he’s far more ingenious with plot and character. Dog Soldiers works as a great post-mortem of the 60s counterculture, too.

      Children of Light and A Flag for Sunrise are both worthwhile, though not as tightly coiled as Dog Soldiers. I’ve had problems with his later work (though I haven’t read the short stories) which feels slack and ponderous.

  10. January 30th, 2010 / 4:13 pm Jeff—

      I really like Dog Soldiers. There’s something about Stone’s early writing that reminds me of DeLillo and they share many themes and preoccupations. Stone’s not as inventive on the sentence level, but he’s far more ingenious with plot and character. Dog Soldiers works as a great post-mortem of the 60s counterculture, too.

      Children of Light and A Flag for Sunrise are both worthwhile, though not as tightly coiled as Dog Soldiers. I’ve had problems with his later work (though I haven’t read the short stories) which feels slack and ponderous.

  11. January 30th, 2010 / 4:46 pm what’s in my purse + other stuff in my room ! | Luggage Porn—

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  12. February 1st, 2010 / 9:34 pm reynard—

      that’s the first time i’ve seen beckett moving. i think i liked it better before, when he was just a picture and his crazy-ass words. not gonna watch any more.

  13. February 1st, 2010 / 5:34 pm reynard—

      that’s the first time i’ve seen beckett moving. i think i liked it better before, when he was just a picture and his crazy-ass words. not gonna watch any more.

  14. February 2nd, 2010 / 4:23 am Muzzy—

      How odd. Beckett’s voice sounds so high and thin, even effeminate. Old age does terrible things to the voice. At least he got himself a pair of fabulous glasses.

  15. February 2nd, 2010 / 12:23 am Muzzy—

      How odd. Beckett’s voice sounds so high and thin, even effeminate. Old age does terrible things to the voice. At least he got himself a pair of fabulous glasses.

  16. February 2nd, 2010 / 4:24 am Muzzy—

      And his hand moves not unlike David Lynch’s — coincidence?

  17. February 2nd, 2010 / 12:24 am Muzzy—

      And his hand moves not unlike David Lynch’s — coincidence?

  18. February 2nd, 2010 / 4:05 pm UG 36 Mailbag and New Stuff | Luggage Porn—

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  19. February 4th, 2010 / 1:20 am emmanuel—
  20. February 3rd, 2010 / 9:20 pm emmanuel—