I'm liking Ron Charles more and more and more, and
this video review of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom makes just makes me giddy.
Over at Critical Mass, the blog for the NBCC, Wyatt Mason
writes about Roth's "tenth, short, and perfect novel, The Ghost Writer." I agree with Mason; this is one great novel, and a great place to start if you're looking to get to know Roth. Here is
my review. It wasn't my first Roth, but it is the book that made him one of my favorite writers of all time (if not my favorite).
This promises to get interesting. Anis Shivani of
The Huffington Post has posted his list of the
fifteen most overrated contemporary American authors. As usual, he makes some great points. Often when I see these, though, I think, "Okay, so they are bad. Now, tell me who is good -- and why the difference." Shivani promises to follow-up with the most
underrated contemporary American writers. Followed with similar lists for American writers of the past century, and going further to include lists for the global writers.
Patricia Zohn interviews Jennifer Egan at
The Huffington Post. I still think
A Visit from the Goon Squad is one of the best books of the year.
New York Magazine has a nice
look at independent bookstores in the City, which are rising "against all odds."
At Reading Matters, Kim has featured my blog on her
Triple Choice Tuesday. My choices?
The Ghost Writer,
So Long, See You Tomorrow, and
Butcher's Crossing. Pop on over and see my fresh, brief write-up of each title.
For Independence Day, the Huffington Post has a slide show of
fifteen great independent publishers, featuring a few of my favorites --
Open Letter,
Archipelago -- and a few I didn't know about.
New Directions is a model of perfection, and I agree. I have stacks and stacks of books from these three presses, and I'm anxious to see what the others have to offer.
Michiko Kakutani's
review of Jacob de Zoet is surprising in its lack of substance. It's mostly just a plot rehash (which I think gives away a bit too much). It's boring to read and insightless, where I usually enjoy her reviews even if I disagree (as I do here). I'm not saying my reviews are better, surely, but this is pretty poor for
The New York Times daily and from a Pulitzer-winning critic.
In the new issue of
The New Yorker, James Wood
takes a look at The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: "This is to argue not that David Mitchell should be more like Tolstoy or Conrad or Beckett but, curiously, that he might be more Mitchellian—that the reader wants a kind of moral or metaphysical pressure that is absent, and that has ceded all the ground to pure storytelling."
The Paris Review blog has a
Q&A with Jennifer Egan, author of
The Goon Squad, a piece of which was published in
The New Yorker and discussed
here.
Click
here for the
Never Let Me Go trailer. I didn't like the book as much as I hoped I would, but the trailer makes the film look good.
____________________________
Click 
CONTEST! PRIZE!
KevinfromCanada is hosting a contest on his blog. Pick the Pulitzer. Prize is $75 gift certificate to any online bookseller of your choice that will take his card.
Don’t miss out! Click here for the link.
By the way, my picks are
Winner: Joseph O’Neill: Netherland
Finalists: Susan Choi: A Person of Interest; Marilynne Robinson: Home
I did pick The Road the year it won, so I’m a contender!
Trevor: You and I, too our shame as prize watchers, tend to overlook the IMPAC award which consistently produces an interesting winner. They announced their shortlist last week and I’ve actually read almost half of it — Oscar Wao, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Animal’s People. The means I’ve missed on three American titles — The Archivist’s Story, The Indian Clerk and Man Gone Down — have you or any other visitor here an opinion on any. Completing the list are two translations; from the French, Ravel and from the Norwegian The Burnt Out Town of Miracles. Again I would be interested in any opinions.
Since I liked all three of the books on this list that I have read, I’m certainly going to be investigating the rest — the prize doesn’t get awarded until June. If you set up a comment section, I promise to share thoughts. And I’d sure be interested in opinions on those three American titles since I have missed them all.
I’m going to need help with the IMPAC. I’ve looked into it before only briefly because it seems so after-the-fact. The three books you mentioned were published in 2007 and recognized then and in 2008. That said, I am sure much of this is my own ignorance: I don’t know much about the award. I will put up a page for comments and the like, though. That seems to be one of the best ways to get the information I’m lacking!
About the other three American titles you mentioned. I had only heard of (or at least, I only remember hearing of) Man Gone Down. It was one of the NY Times five best books of fiction in 2007. I looked into it, picked it up a few times, but I have yet to commit more time to it than that. I’m certainly interested in your comments.
I think the timeliness issue has also been one of the reasons I’ve ignored it — never paid attention until the winner was announced and then said, oh, that book. This is the first year I’ve stumbled across the shortlist and that was quite inadvertent. Incidentally, I think the reason for the delay is that nominations come from public library systems (I now like this prize even more for that reason, which I did not discover until today). I know you have librarian contacts on this blog and perhaps they could tell us more.
Finally, on the timeliness issue. When I see the three books I like and five I don’t know, I have to conclude that the five I don’t kinow are “new” books to me (which might be quite good) even if they were published a few years ago.
If you do set up a post, in addition to your own recent Wao review, Pechorin’s journal has a very good one up now for Reluctant Fundamentalist and Asylum loved Animal’s People last year. You probably know all that already, so just delete this post.
I’ll make sure to get links to those. I read and enjoyed The Reluctant Fundamentalist, but I didn’t read Animal’s People, primarily because of a NY Times review.
Don’t forget: Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists announced on Monday, April 20.
Here’s an interesting list of the “Top Ten Forgotten Pulitzer Prize Winning Novels”.
I have read only one (and that one I’ve read twice!): Steven Millhauser’s Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer.