Monthly Archives: May 2007

Elizabeth Hand Interview

Author and Bookslut correspondent Jeff Vandermeer interviewed Elizabeth Hand, author of Generation Loss for the latest issue of Bookslut. I found it fascinating, especially this part:

I had a hard time creating Cass — she’s me if my brake lines had been cut when I was in my early 20s. I hated being in her mind, because it was like channeling the worst possible version of myself. A lot of her early experiences were mine — at 21, I was not a good role model.

Still, there was something deeply cathartic about just giving that character her head and letting her run with it. I have friends who are still a lot more like Cass than I am, and, I have to confess, I have some admiration for a certain kind of recklessness and hunger for experience that I’m far too cautious to indulge in now, except through my writing.

I loved and hated Cass. She’s that person you know who has what you think is a good heart, but a fucked up personality. Every now and then though you question their heart after they do something really questionable. I think a lot of people feel this way about themselves too, wishing they could take more chances, but not having the balls. That’s one of things I loved about this book, was loving and hating Cass.

On a side note, Elizabeth Hand will be reading at my store on May 23rd.

It’s Hard to Post on a Friday Afternoon When the Sun is Shining Outside

Spring fever. I’ve got it, yes. I finished a lovely book at lunch today written by Aiobheann Sweeney called Among Other Things I’ve Taken Up Smoking. It’s quiet but she sort of pulls you into the story. Miranda has always lived on a small island off the coast of Maine with her scholar father. Her parents moved there from New York City when she was only three and soon after they arrived, her mother disappeared into the fog. Miranda lives a lonely existence on the island taking care of her quiet and withdrawn father, yet she doesn’t yearn for a different life necessarily. Her father arranges for her to go to New York for a few weeks and help some friends from his old life. In New York, Miranda learns more about her father and about herself. It’s a really nice coming of age tale with lovely moments about loneliness and figuring out how to be a real person.

On the Newspaper Review Controversy

I’ve been silent about the whole subject of the disappearing book coverage in newspapers so far. Usually, I’d be shouting loud and clear about it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll explain. A few weeks ago, the Atlanta Journal Constitution announced that they would be eliminating the position of book editor. The National Book Critics Circle then announced a campaign to save book review pages. Each day they post comments from well known authors and editors about the value of book reviews. And of course bloggers got on board as well, not without a bit of controversy of their own. Today Motoko Rich has an article The New York Times about the print versus online divide, that includes comments some of my friends Mark, Ed, Maud, Dan, and Jeff.

I haven’t weighed in on this issue yet for a few reasons. One, it feels odd to try and save pages that I regularly complain about (I’m specifically referring to the Boston Globe. I do not want the book review section to disappear, but I lament the often boring nature of the section. I want to save it though. It needs to exist here, as do all review pages, but this should be a chance to for change in the review industry (I hesitate to use that word, but can’t think of a better term). Reviews have gotten stodgy and boring and I don’t blame the internet either. I think people have gotten lazy. Just as scholarship evolves, so shouldn’t criticism. But again, I’m all for saving the review pages.

The other reason I haven’t spoken out yet reflects more of a uncomfortableness that comes from having a blog. The newspapers certainly don’t seem to love the literary blogs and online community. That’s changing I know, but it’s hard to read about saving these pages when meanwhile, they’re trashing what I do, eg Richard Ford’s comments at the end of today’s NYT article.

Mr. Ford, who has never looked at a literary blog, said he wanted the judgment and filter that he believed a newspaper book editor could provide. “Newspapers, by having institutional backing, have a responsible relationship not only to their publisher but to their readership,” Mr. Ford said, “in a way that some guy sitting in his basement in Terre Haute maybe doesn’t.”

I’m not sitting in a basement Mr. Ford. I’m in a book store, where we actually sell your books on a daily basis. So thanks for that. Regardless of how those comments make me feel, I do think it important to state for the record that I believe book reviews should be saved and I’ll do what I can to help.